


The Reckoning

by Obsidian3



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types, Carmilla - J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Hellboy (Comics), Hellboy - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Action/Adventure, Carmilla/Hellboy crossover, Drama, F/F, Multi, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-31
Updated: 2017-09-26
Packaged: 2018-05-30 09:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 39
Words: 177,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6418939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Obsidian3/pseuds/Obsidian3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In 1944, rescued from her prison by the Allies, Carmilla winds up becoming part of the newly formed BPRD. Seventy years later, their newest mission requires her to face her past, confront her mother... and deal with one annoyingly persistent journalism student. (Hellboy crossover AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Since, as best I'm able to tell (at the time this chapter was completed), no actual fighting took place in Styria (so I honestly have no idea where Carmilla's coffin was supposed to have been buried, canonically... surprising me not at all, the showrunners again didn't think things all the way through), there will be some discrepancies between what happens in this chapter and the actual events of the war. Of course, since I don't think the Nazis ever summoned an infant demon to Earth in late 1944, we'd kind of already left those events behind. Still, I felt it best to acknowledge that and other, minor changes, should any history buffs be reading. Those minor issues (such as the availability of hand-held radio transceivers for servicemen) aside, I'll do my best to keep the combat grounded in reality, otherwise. (Vampires notwithstanding, of course. ;) )

 

* * *

 

**December 27th, 1944**

**Styria, Austria**

 

_Something had changed._

_She couldn't have said just what that something was, however. She'd been locked away in her prison under the earth for so long, she'd completely lost track of time. Even when she was awake, she drifted off into a catatonic stupor. The relentless monotony of her unchanging environment, the total lack of any sensory input, the almost total inability to move..._

_They'd started getting to her a while ago._

_She sometimes wondered, in her more lucid moments, just how long she'd been entombed. Weeks? Months? Years? She'd tried keeping track, in the beginning, but that hadn't lasted long, especially given her need for sleep. Mother had never said how long she planned on leaving her 'daughter' imprisoned thusly, making her often wonder if she_ _**was** _ _ever coming back. Had she been forgotten? Left to rot away her eternity in the coffin? The blood that had filled it previously was gone, consumed in her seemingly pointless efforts to stay healthy and sane. How long had it been gone? She couldn't say for sure, but hunger had long ago begun gnawing at her insides, shredding her sanity, bringing with it entirely new problems._

_The hungrier and weaker she got, the longer and more frequent her stupors became. There was only thing she was sure of: Elle was long since dead. She had to be. And oh, did that hurt to realize. Every time she forgot, then remembered, it felt like the first time, all over again._

_She shouldn't think of Elle. She knew that. Remembering their last meeting only brought pain. But her mental discipline had worn down to the point where she couldn't help it. Once her love came to mind, it was never long before she saw those hate-filled eyes, heard the voice dripping venom as it called her a monster._

_Was she? Was the voice right? She hadn't thought so, but... How many girls had she delivered to Mother, over the years? None of them were ever seen again, once she did, but that had never bothered her until Elle - and_ _**that** _ _was only because she wanted to keep Elle for herself. During the hunts - the_ _**feasts** _ _\- that Mother took her on, how many had died? She hadn't cared then, either._

_**Oh, God...** _ _Elle had been right. She_ _**was** _ _a monster. Little wonder Mother had never come back for her; she_ _**deserved** _ _to be locked away forever._

_As her mind drifted along in a self-recriminatory haze, a dim, almost forgotten memory surfaced._

_She wasn't the only one of Mother's "children". In the early 1800s, Mother had turned a young French man named... Jacques? Jean-Pierre? It started with a 'J', she was pretty sure. She hadn't been there for it, but Mother had later commented that he hadn't turned out_ _**quite** _ _the way she'd hoped, so she'd had to make some "revisions". When she_ _**had** _ _met him, he hadn't seemed all that different than any of the others she'd known since her rebirth, so she hadn't thought anything of it at the time - she hadn't paid_ _**nearly** _ _enough attention to what Mother said and did over the years, and bitterly regretted that, now - but thinking back on it, the implication was that she'd somehow... manipulated him, how he thought and acted. She wanted to believe that Mother had done that to her, too... But couldn't, quite. It just seemed too much like an easy way out, like an excuse._

_And even if Mother_ _**had** _ _altered her mind in such a fashion... So what? Whether she'd originally been cold and callous toward humans or not, whether she'd always been a monster or not... she was one now. She had been ever since her rebirth in 1698. Slightly over one hundred and seventy-four years between then and being buried... It wouldn't matter even if her bloodthirsty desires_ _**had** _ _been implanted within her; they were still there, one way or another._

_Caught up in self-loathing, she almost didn't notice the walls of the coffin vibrating._

_**Again** _ _, she realized a short time later. That same sort of vibration was what had disturbed her before, too. As deeply as she'd been buried - to prevent anyone from accidentally uncovering her - there hadn't really been any outside stimulus since the dirt had been hitting the coffin lid, sealing her away. This had felt almost like... She strained, trying to fully awaken her mind for the first time in ages (possibly literally), and the term finally came to her:_

_An impact tremor._

_But what could possibly be striking the earth hard enough for her to feel it as deep down as she was?_

_There was another tremor, this one actually shaking the coffin, bouncing her off the lid. As much as she might have appreciated the new sensations and break from the mind-crushing_ _**nothing** _ _she'd been enduring, she had_ _**no idea** _ _what was happening, and was growing alarmed._

_Another, this time_ _**much** _ _closer, and she could actually hear an odd roaring sound. It almost sounded like canon fire, but... not. An explosion of some kind? She didn't know, and was becoming frightened as it continued, explosion after earth-shaking explosion. Was this some new kind of torture Mother had devised? It would certainly be in keeping the cruelty lurking within the woman (which she'd actually kind of enjoyed when it was aimed at someone else... God, she_ _**was** _ _horrid, she decided). How long was this-?_

_Her world was abruptly shattered as another series of explosions erupted, with the closest being almost directly above her coffin._

 

* * *

 

Private First Class Lawrence "Hutch" Hutchinson surveyed the charred, smoking Austrian countryside. The B-17 boys had certainly done a number on the place, he had to admit. Once pristine forests had been reduced to kindling in many places, fields and plains had massive holes blasted in them, and the nearby railway - their _actual_ target - had been wrecked.

Still, as awe-inspiring - or, alternately, horrifying, depending on one's mood - as the destruction might be, he couldn't afford to get distracted. He and three other servicemen from the 8th Infantry Division's Reconnaissance Troop had been assigned to this particular part of the battlefield to identify any possible unexploded ordinance or Nazi survivors from the train that had been making passing through, packed with supplies that Uncle Sam was determined not to let the Germans have. They'd spread out to cover more ground, keeping in constant contact with each other and their base via the new hand-held two-way radios they'd just received last month. (They weren't as powerful as the SCR-536 'handie talkies' and had a much smaller range, but they were perfect for this sort of operation.) The bombing had covered far too much of the countryside to follow their S.O.P. - the other five members of the squad were about a mile away, and two other squads were circling around to approach the area from the east and the west. (As they converged, they would make their way north.)

He was supposedly 'in command' of his team, the other three members only being privates, but unless something came up that deviated from their orders, that was fairly well meaningless. If all went smoothly - and given the sheer tonnage of bombs that had been dropped, it seemed likely that it would - their troop would be able to pronounce the target area secure without firing a shot.

It was funny. When he'd first been shipped overseas in March, he'd been all too eager to see some action... then he had. _'Be careful what you wish for', indeed,_ he mused. It had simultaneously been everything he'd hoped it would be, and nothing at all like he'd expected. The Recon Troop wasn't really _supposed_ to be involved in the fighting, but commanders needed bodies in uniform more than they needed battlefield intel, and the Infantry tended to take _heavy_ losses. They were frequently assigned to defensive missions or special operations, sometimes even to security missions or offensive actions, making their current mission notable in that they were doing their _actual_ job, for once. Hopefully, their usual reinforcements wouldn't get too bored, sitting this one out.

When he came upon one bomb crater in particular, he found himself wishing they'd been assigned those reinforcements, after all. His hopes of things going smoothly had just taken a severe nosedive.

Retrieving his radio from his pack - as small as they were, it was still too cumbersome and heavy to attach to his belt - he hit the 'transmit' button. "Base Camp, this is Hutchinson, over."

The crackling reply, laced with the occasional burst of static, made it clear he _was_ still within range of the camp, but was getting near the outer edge of that. " _This is Base. What've you got, Hutch?_ " He recognized the voice of Coropral Reynolds, the unit's main radio operator. Good, then he wouldn't have to repeat himself later; Reynolds was very good at making sure the appropriate people were listening; and if they weren't, he had a memory like a steel trap, and would be able to fill them in on _exactly_ what they'd missed.

"Still no sign of survivors from the train," he reported. "But I have found something... odd."

" _Are we really expecting any survivors?_ " Private Logan's voice broke in. That was the major disadvantage of the radios: if you had a suitable receiver, and tuned into the right frequency, you could hear everything that everyone using one was saying. As far as anyone _knew_ , the Germans weren't eavesdropping on their conversations, but it was always possible. They weren't really _supposed_ to use them unless they had to, but in situations like this, command was rather lax in enforcing that regulation.

Making a fuss about it wouldn't help anything, so he simply ignored the interruption. So did Reynolds. " _Define odd._ "

"At the bottom of a crater there's what looks like it used to be a coffin. No tracks leading toward it, but there's a set of bloody footprints leading _away_."

" _...yeah, that's odd, alright,_ " Logan agreed. He must have been bored with his own patrol to keep butting in during an official report. Hutch was pretty sure he wouldn't have been getting away with it if Staff Sargent Harris - their squad's _actual_ commander, who was leading the other fireteam - was able to listen in, and wondered just when they'd moved out of range.

" _Who knows? Maybe the Nazis decided to try something different with one of the local Jews,_ " Reynolds suggested. " _If so, there could be an injured and disoriented civilian wandering through the combat zone._ "

Would the Nazis really...? Oh, who was he kidding? Of course they would. "Bastards," he ground out. "Right. I'll follow them, see if I can't catch up with whoever was making 'em." He didn't expect it to take long. After all, how far could someone who'd been buried alive and survived a bombing make it before collapsing?

Surprisingly far, as it turned out.

The blood tapered off quickly enough, until he was just following a trail of footprints. Hopefully, that was a good sign, since nobody who'd lost so much blood they didn't have any left to spill could possibly be walking. He did see signs that whoever was making them was periodically staggering, and dropping to one knee now and then, but they just got up and kept going. He was a little impressed, truth be told.

A little impressed, and a lot uneasy.

The Nazis' Jewish prisoners, as he understood it, were rarely in anything resembling good shape. He'd heard stories about liberated 'concentration camps', as they called them. Admittedly, it was possible this was a new prisoner that they hadn't had time to mistreat, yet...

Finally, over a mile away from the crater, he caught sight of something up ahead: the German train, which had run off the broken rails, but seemed to be otherwise mostly intact. The lack of bomb damage to the train itself told him that something else must have been responsible for the torn apart Nazi soldiers scattered around the clearing.

Coincidentally, the footprints he'd been following headed straight into the carnage.

"Yeah, that can't be good," he muttered under his breath. Definitely time to call in some backup. "I found the train," he said into his radio. When he didn't recieve a reply, he stopped in his tracks, frowning, and tried again. "Base, this is Hutchinson. Please respond, over." Still nothing. "Logan, can you still hear me?" If the guy wanted to be involved in the conversation, he could act as a relay back to base camp, then.

Unfortunately, that nothing kept right on coming.

Well... great. So, what were his options? Investigate the scene on his own and just _hope_ that whatever had slaughtered the German soldiers wouldn't be too much for _one_ American G.I. to handle on his own? Or pull back to a point where he was able to raise base camp, almost certainly allowing whatever had done this to escape, and possibly find its way behind American lines?

_Hell with it._ He was a scout, wasn't he? Time to do some damned scouting.

The scene didn't look any better up close. Whatever had happened had been chaotic enough to disturb the dirt near the train to the point where he couldn't readily tell what had happened. (He was a recon scout, sure, but it wasn't like he was Tonto from that Lone Ranger radio program he'd used to listen to, or something.) There were shell casings all over the place, indicating the Germans hadn't gone quietly. When had this happened, he wondered, for them not to have heard any of it, even as far away as their camp was?

The bodies were another matter. Whatever had attacked them, it clearly hadn't been someone with guns or knives. Claws and teeth, maybe, though he spotted at least one soldier who looked like his skull had been bashed in.

He was painfully aware that his only weapon, aside from his combat knife, was a M1911 pistol. Of course, the Germans had been armed with rifles and machine guns, and that clearly hadn't helped _them_ much. He _did_ have a Very pistol - a flare gun named after Edward Wilson Very, the American naval officer invented them - and getting it out of his pack was seeming like a better and better idea by the minute.

He'd just slipped the pack from his shoulders when he heard the distinct sound of a rifle cartridge being chambered behind him.

_Great. Recon scout gets ambushed. If I survive, I'm never hearing the end of this._ He turned, slowly and being sure to make no sudden moves. Standing about ten feet behind him was a visibly terrified German soldier. His rifle was shaking so badly Hutch wasn't sure the Nazi would be able to hit him even from such close range. And maybe he shouldn't feel too bad about missing this guy, if whatever had killed the others had, too.

The German said... _something_ to him, speaking so quickly it might not have mattered if Hutch actually _had_ spoken German. He didn't - they were there to _shoot_ the Nazis, not have polite chats with them - and he shook his head. "Yeah, I'm... I'm not getting a word of that."

The German said something else, stressing the words _blutsauger_ and _vampir_ , looking around in panic as he did. He still wasn't making much sense, though _vampir_ sounded like it was supposed to be vampire. Which... made even less sense. Yes, what had happened here was bad, but it wasn't like-

The German soldier abruptly vanished in a blur.

It took a moment for Hutch's mind to catch up with his eyes and tell him what had just happened. Something had lunged out of one of the train cars, grabbed the Nazi, and yanked him back with it in the blink of an eye. Vampires were just something Hollywood had made up, but _something_ had killed these men, so...

He fished the flare gun from his pack, pointed it straight up, and fired.

Okay. Hopefully, help would be incoming fairly quickly. His job, now, became making sure the _whatever_ didn't get away and start picking his men off, too. Which meant... going into the train.

_The things I do for God and country._

There were a few passenger cars - where the soldiers must have been - but it was largely a freight train... and the Nazi had been dragged into one of those cars. The poor bastard hadn't even had time to scream - he hadn't made any noise at all, in fact - and was almost certainly dead by now. He debated pulling his gun, but decided against it. While he might feel better with a weapon in his hand, guns clearly weren't very effective against... whatever it was. And given that it had targeted the one of them with a weapon in his hands, while leaving the unarmed one alone, it obviously understood what guns were.

Who knew? Maybe the diplomatic approach might work. Stranger things had happened, right?

Maybe not.

He got out his flashlight, shouldered his pack, and approached the door to the freight car. A rumbling, warning growl hit his ears as he climbed up into the car, shining the light around. This particular car was full of foodstuffs, which would be a welcome addition to their own camp's somewhat diminished food supply. It wasn't hard to find the source of the noise, and the growl got louder as the light fell upon it - upon _her_ , rather.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it hadn't been a girl that looked like she was in her late teens.

She was wearing the tattered remains of a dress, which seemed about five seconds from falling apart. Whatever color it had once been, it was now the reddish brown of dried blood, with dark, damp splotches all over it where new blood had been sprayed far more recently. Her hair was dark, filthy and matted, hanging nearly to her legs, and pushed off to the side from where she was crouched over a surprisingly _still alive_ German soldier. The look in her eyes was wild, almost feral, and the blood on and around her mouth couldn't hide the fangs peeking out from lips that were slowly peeling back.

Intellectually, he knew approaching someone - something? - in such a state would be a terrible idea. Practically suicide. But the German had also seen him, and was shooting him a panicked, pleading look, silently begging for help. (He likely would have been doing so audibly, too, if she hadn't had a hand clamped over his mouth. At least that explained why he hadn't made any noise at any point since being grabbed.)

What kind of person would he be if he just _left_?

He sighed quietly, took one step closer to get to a clean spot on the floor, then sat down - both to appear as non-threatening as he could and to be able to look her in the eyes - and waited.

As he'd hoped, she didn't quite seem to know how to react to that. A couple of tense minutes went by she shook her head and said something to him in German. Her voice sounded hoarse from disuse, making him again wonder just who this girl was.

When she didn't get a reply - he hadn't exactly spontaneously learned to speak German in the past ten minutes, somehow - she frowned, then repeated herself. " _Wer bist du? Wo bin ich?_ " There was a slight glint of intelligence showing through in her eyes, now, the effort of speaking breaking through whatever madness had been seizing her. " _Qui es-tu? Où suis-je?_ " she tried. That sounded like French, but he didn't know any of that, either, not having been part of that campaign.

"Um... right. Look, lady, I'm not sure what-"

"English?" she interrupted, a faint but definite accent in her voice. "Fine. Who are you? Where am I?"

Okay. They were making progress. "My name is Lawrence Hutchinson. I'm a Private First Class with the 8th Infantry of the US Army. We're somewhere in rural Austria. Styria, I think, but don't quote me on that."

"US Army...?" She puzzled over that for several moments. "The... United States? What are _you_ doing involved in a conflict _here_?"

"That's... something of a long story. Now, I told you who I was. Who are you?"

"My name...?" She frowned uncertainly. "My name is... I..."

Did she not know? What had _happened_ to this girl? "That's okay," he said soothingly. "We can come back to that later."

Her eyes narrowed at him, as if she thought he was patronizing her. "You presume you'll _have_ a later?"

He shrugged. "You haven't killed me, yet."

"The others were more interested in shooting me than talking to me. They recognized what I was." Her eyes darted briefly to his gun in its holster.

"Lady, you saved my life, back there. I'm _not_ gonna shoot you for it."

She seemed to be considering that. "And this?" She gestured toward her bloody mouth.

He thought about it... and came to what he supposed was technically a command decision. "I really don't _care_ what you are, as long as you keep pointing _that_ -" He also gestured toward her fangs. "-toward the bad guys."

Her expression turned skeptical. "Sure. And would that make you the 'good guys'?"

"Compared to the people actively engaging in genocide, sending countless numbers of men, women, and children to gas chambers or just burning them alive? Yeah, I think we are."

She jerked, startled. "What?"

"Ask your buddy there what his superiors are up to, if you don't believe me."

She looked uncertain, then upset, then angry, and shifted her glare to the German she was holding immobile with one hand on his chest. She removed the other from his mouth and fired off a series of increasingly angry questions. He stammered out answers as best he could, and even having no idea exactly what was being said, Hutch could tell the mystery woman didn't like his answers. " _Kinder?_ " she repeated, a note of horror breaking through her anger.

He didn't know German, but he could make a pretty good guess about that one. "So?" he prompted, because she was starting to look pretty homicidal, so it seemed like a good idea to get her attention before she went on another killing spree.

"He doesn't have a lot of details," she said, voice full of restrained fury, blazing eyes still locked on the terrified German. "He's only been a member of his country's armed forces for three months. But what he does know agrees with what you said."

She wasn't looking any less homicidal. Not exactly a good sign. "Good to know. Tell him he's officially a prisoner of war."

"You want to let him _live_?"

"We don't just murder helpless individuals. That's why we're the good guys, remember?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "'We'?"

"You have something better to be doing? he challenged. "I meant what I said, before."

"I... I don't even know what the date is."

"December 27th, 1944." Her expression turned to one of shock. "Not the date you were expecting?" he guessed.

"That... would be putting it mildly."

"You should at least come back to camp with us, get yourself cleaned up. Not sure if we have any clothes your size, but we'll see what we can do."

She was slowly working through her shock. If she'd come from that coffin, and was _this_ shocked by learning the date... How long had she been down there?

That was probably a question best saved for later.

"And your superiors would be... accepting... of that?"

"You took out an entire German platoon and captured a trainful of supplies by yourself," he replied, allowing himself a slight smile. "They'll _love_ you."

She tentatively smiled back, just a little. "Well... At least I'd be doing something _good_ , for once." Her head tilted, as if listening to something. "I think your friends are coming," she reported.

He didn't hear anything, but it _had_ been long enough for some of them to reach their location. "Oh, they are _really_ going to love you." At her inquisitive look, he added, "We're a reconnaissance unit."

"That sounds promising," she murmured. Something seemed to occur to her, and her attention snapped back to him. "I don't want a lot of people knowing about me," she said firmly. "I can't... I can't risk word getting back to... _her_... that I'm free." She shuddered. "I won't go back. Not ever."

"i think we can work something out." Never specifically mention her in reports, don't use the V-word... They'd figure something out. He wanted to ask who she was talking about, but something told him that was one topic she was _not_ open to discussing just then. He stood up. "So, what do we call you, anyway?" She seemed to consider that, then came to some kind of decision.

"Carmilla. Call me Carmilla."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** Readers may be wondering which of the Hellboy continuities this story fits in with. The short answer would be "None of the above". Definitely not the movies, but also not the comics (since the 'present day' part of the story takes place during season 1 of Carmilla - autumn/winter 2014 - that wouldn't have been possible, even if I'd wanted to try and also tackle all the lore and history... and destruction of major cities and the like). It would fall more in line with the continuity established animated movies... though, since Carmilla naturally wasn't in those, there would be obvious differences. (Also, in every Hellboy continuity that they exist in, vampires are harmed/killed by sunlight, while in Carmilla, they're not.) But before we can get to that, we have to see how _this_ version of Carmilla _did_ meet up with the BPRD.

* * *

 

**May 9th, 1945**

**Peerlo Air Force Base, New Mexico, USA**

 

Carmilla was nervous.

She didn't let it show, of course. She was alone in the small meeting room she'd been asked to wait in (an _hour_ ago!), so she probably didn't need to bother, but she knew better than to drop her guard. She'd learned that during her first year as a vampire, and the subsequent centuries had only reinforced that lesson to the point where she wasn't sure she could let down her guard for someone even if she'd _wanted_ to. Even with Elle, she'd always been careful... though, in a way, that had been part of the problem. She'd wondered more than once, during her imprisonment, whether things would have been different if she'd just trusted Elle, explained what she really was. Mother had played up her monstrous nature, portrayed her in the worst possible light. Would things have been better, if _she'd_ been the one to reveal the truth?

Well, she wouldn't have been caught in a lie, at least. That alone would have been an improvement. Still, as much as she'd loved her, Carmilla didn't think Elle would have been able to handle it, no matter how delicately she explained. (That would have become a problem eventually, if they'd managed to stay together, as Elle _would_ have noticed she wasn't aging... and if she couldn't handle _Carmilla_ being a vampire, she never would have wanted to become one herself.) She'd learned another important lesson from that:

Don't let people get close.

Even if they didn't hurt her, even if they didn't betray her, they _would_ eventually leave her. Their mortality alone would ensure that, and she couldn't bear the thought of passing her curse on to anyone else.

When she'd first gotten out of the coffin, though, she'd been in such bad shape that, well, she hadn't _quite_ managed to stick to that decision. Her defenses had been in tatters, her sanity not much better, and she'd desperately craved the acceptance the 8th Infantry's Reconnaissance Troop had offered her. Had they just been using her for their own ends? The higher-ups, perhaps, the ones who'd never really even met her, but she was used to that. Oddly, it actually gave her something familiar enough to cling to that she was able to recenter herself. The actual grunts, though, the ones she'd worked with out in the field...

A number of them had taken some time to get used to her. To those with a normal background, the reality that vampires existed - and some might even be, if not friendly, than at least helpful - was a definite adjustment to make. Oddly, no one had really questioned that she _was_ a vampire, past their initial disbelief. She'd been expecting to have to prove multiple times that she wasn't trying to trick them, and had been at a bit of a loss when she didn't. Yes, the carnage she'd left behind her at the train was something that definitely hadn't been the work of a human, but even so...

Evidently, she wasn't the first supernatural being the United States armed forces had encountered, either during this or the previous world war. (She'd had enough trouble wrapping her mind around the idea of a 'world war', let alone that she'd woken up during the _second_ one. Learning that nothing had _really_ been resolved with the end of the first, save for deciding who'd be on which side when the conflict flared up again years later, had helped somewhat.) Having one fight _with_ them rather than _against_ them had been seen as a refreshing change of pace.

And fight she had.

For all that they were a reconnaissance unit, they'd barely ever seemed to engage in any actual _reconnaissance_. Carmilla was allowed to act as an advance scout, mainly because she didn't quite get the whole 'following orders' concept right away, and tended to just go off on her own and see what any German forces nearby were up to. She _did_ at least realize how suspicious that might look when viewed from outside, so she deliberately stayed in plain sight when at base camp, so that none of the 'desk jockeys' back in Washington would believe she was acting as a double agent. She always got results on her solo missions, and the Captain was smart enough to know that none of his soldiers could possibly keep up with her, anyway, so he didn't really chastise her for it. He _did_ insist she act according to whatever intelligence they might already have, though, and let him know what she was doing. Both were reasonable enough requests that she didn't have a problem with it. For all that she was a woman among the all-male armed forces, and for all that she wasn't human, the men of the 8th always treated her with respect. Unlike Mother, the Captain never talked down to her, or just insisted she do things (things she'd been horribly uncomfortable with, in a few cases, not that Mother had _really_ cared) without explaining why.

They... _accepted_ her. It was a brand new experience for her.

There weren't all that many in Washington that knew of her, anyway. She'd been assured - multiple times - that her existence was classified, need to know only. Even in reports, no one used her actual name. She was often referred to as 'one of our scouts' or 'a native guide'. As far as she knew, Mother didn't have any contacts or influence among the government of the United States. She'd started taking them a _little_ more seriously as time went on and the country only grew larger, but she'd once referred to them as "Those upstart colonials", and that attitude had never really gone away. Or, at least, it hadn't while Carmilla had been with her, but a lot of time had passed since then, and America had grown to the point where it was considered a major power among the nations of the world, and was one of the primary forces among the second world-shaking war. As such, Carmilla didn't want to take any chances, preferring to stay as low-profile as she could manage.

Of course, as far as the public knew, vampires didn't really exist, so odds were good that she'd _never_ be acknowledged. She was fine with that, really.

Being used as a weapon probably _should_ have bothered her, given that she tended to view herself as a monster (and was _not_ okay with it), but somehow, this was different. Yes, she was killing people, but only enemy combatants, never civilians. It was no less than was asked of every soldier in the Allied forces, and she probably _could_ be doing it with a gun if she wanted to (and wasn't such a terrible shot - not that she was overly fond of guns, as being too close to them was _murder_ on her sensitive ears; another reason she often went off by herself) - actually, she _had_ a few times, when even her abilities hadn't been enough to get close to the enemy. There was an actual _purpose_ to it, now, not just... killing for the sake of killing. They were fighting to _save_ lives, to liberate the oppressed, and all manner of expressions that would have made her roll her eyes in the past. They were fighting evil, in a way - she'd seen pictures of one of the Nazi's concentration camps - and for someone who'd been lost in the dark for so long, that was an appealing prospect.

Besides, she still had to feed, and biting anyone in the 8th wouldn't have made her any friends. Like Hutch, they didn't care what she was as long as she aimed her hunger at the German forces, so that was what she did.

_Ah, Hutch..._

She allowed herself a small, fond smile. Lawrence Hutchinson, she'd decided upon meeting him, was probably one of the craziest people she'd ever encountered. Honestly, who stumbled across the scene of a slaughter, followed the creature responsible for it into an enclosed space with poor lighting, then just sat there within easy lunging distance, waiting? Knowing that he'd also been buying time for the backup he'd summoned to arrive helped mitigate that impression, somewhat, but only a little. When she'd asked him about it - demanding to know if he was _that_ big of an idiot, or just suicidal - he'd simply chuckled. "Guns obviously didn't work, you were _way_ too fast for me to connect with a knife, I didn't have any other weapons, and I wasn't about to let you out of my sight so you could potentially ambush my men; what other choice _was_ there?" He'd shrugged, pointing out, "Besides, it worked, didn't it?"

Idiot, she'd decided. Reckless idiot. But at least not a _complete_ idiot. It had been so long since she'd been trusted, even not to kill him for no reason, that she'd taken a chance and returned the favor, accompanying him back to his camp. As promised, her capture of the train and elimination of the German forces guarding it _had_ gone a long way toward winning over his superiors. (Though given how the Allied bombing had destroyed the tracks, she wasn't sure how much _she'd_ done in capturing the train. She supposed she _had_ at least prevented them from escaping with the supplies.) She'd even spared the German he'd 'taken prisoner', as requested - the boy had almost wept with relief when she'd translated Hutch's words. She had to admit, it had actually felt kind of good to let him live. Killing in the heat of battle and killing an unarmed and helpless target weren't the same, and refraining from doing the latter made her feel a bit better about herself.

Still, she'd made Hutch promise that, if he ever came across someone or something else in the kind of state she'd been in after her accidental release from the coffin, he wouldn't be so stupid as to just walk right up to it and try to have a chat.

They'd been curious about the coffin, of course. However accepting they might have been, it would have been impossible not to be. They hadn't pushed her _too_ hard on the subject, once they saw how horribly uncomfortable even thinking about it made her, but she'd told them a little. About Mother, at least. Not Elle, or any of the other girls. She hadn't wanted them to look at her like the monster she was, and if they'd known what she'd _done_...

She hadn't asked about anyone else's past, hoping they would return the courtesy, though she couldn't help but overhear tidbits anyway. About Marco's family, Kevin's girl back home, "Wild" Bill's gambling problems... She couldn't quite tune it all out, even though she tried. She tended to keep separate from the others even when not in combat, unused to being around so many other people all at once, anymore. Slowly, as the months passed and they progressed further and further toward and then into Germany, she'd gotten acclimated, and wound up being pulled more and more into the group. She couldn't pin down exactly when it happened, the process had been so gradual, but eventually, she _was_ part of the 8th. (Technically, she had been since she'd first met with the Captain; she'd even been given a rank - Technician Fifth Grade, and she'd been rather amused to find she technically _outranked_ Hutch - and been informed that her paycheck was being deposited in an account they'd set up for her. That made her a bit nervous, but she had to admit, it _was_ rather unlikely Mother had someone on the inside of that particular bank, when she'd never displayed any interest in the financial world before. Thankfully, the government had set it up under a fake name, even providing her with matching identification. She was so used to simply taking what she wanted that the idea of being paid, and thus having money to actually _buy_ things with, had been something of a foreign concept.) She _belonged_.

Still, she'd known it was only a matter of time until the war ended, given the way the Allies were pushing their way into Germany. When asked what she planned to do after they'd won, she'd been at something of a loss. Take some time to herself, probably. Maybe head back to France for a time. She hadn't been there in... Well, a while, to put it delicately. She was curious about that Eiffel Tower she'd heard about, and the girls in Paris always knew how to have fun. (Not that she'd ever mentioned her preferences to the guys. Her being a vampire was one thing; she didn't think they needed to try and wrap their heads around her being a vampire _and_ preferring the company of her own gender.) It was also big enough that she could go unnoticed there for a while, she felt. What were the odds Mother would have ever stumbled across her in Paris, of all places?

The higher-ups, however, had other ideas. Which was what had lead to her sitting in a room at Peerlo Air Force Base, waiting.

And waiting.

No one had really explained just what she was there _for_. Major General Moore, the 8th's top commander, had come to see her personally to 'request' that she get on the plane to New Mexico (series of planes, really, since she'd had to fly back to America first, which meant a stop in England - she'd been getting rather hungry by the time she was stateside, and combined with the nerve-wracking experience flying was for someone who had missed the development of the airplane, she'd been in a _bad_ mood by the time she reached DC, and in desperate need of the pig's blood they'd discretely supplied her with upon landing) and listen to whatever the people there had to say to her. If she wasn't interested, she was free to go; they'd even provide transportation to wherever she wanted - frankly, it almost sounded too good to be true. Combined with their reluctance to tell her what it was they wanted her to do, it was giving her a bad feeling. It wasn't like they worked for Mother, though.

She hoped.

Not even Mother was powerful enough to control the entire sprawling command structure of the United States Army. Controlling one base, and having enough influence to have Carmilla sent to her, on the other hand...? Well, it was _possible_ , she supposed. She didn't like even considering it, not wanting to sully her time with the 8th by even theoretically connecting them, even in such a tenuous fashion, with the _**real**_ monster that was her Mother, but once the thought had popped into her head, it wouldn't go away.

She sighed, shifting in her seat, listening to the faint but oddly reassuring squeak of the leather flight jacket she'd been given before getting on the first plane in Germany. (Someone - she didn't know who - had managed to find a patch with the 8th Infantry's insignia on it, and put that on it in place of the customary squadron patch. She'd been surprisingly touched by the gesture.) She was actually still in her uniform, not really owning any normal clothing. It had gotten her a few odd looks at the bases she'd transferred planes at, making her glad she hadn't been flying commercially. (From what she'd heard, even if it wasn't all that wide spread now, commercial air travel was likely to become a growth industry. That was fine for those in a hurry, she supposed, but she'd found that she preferred staying on land.) She didn't really _need_ a jacket, being fairly immune to temperature (oh, she could _feel_ the cold just fine, it was just that she was fully capable of ignoring it), but she'd found it oddly... comforting. She didn't have many tangible, physical links to her time with the 8th, so the ones she did meant that much more.

She stood up. This was getting stupid, she decided, heading for the door. She'd been plenty patient, so if whoever it was that had asked for her couldn't be bothered to show up for their own damned meetings, she'd just assume that what they had to say to her was nothing, which she'd listened to, and she was thus free to leave.

There was a soldier stationed at the door, though he was unarmed, and didn't seem overly concerned when she opened the door, suggesting he wasn't there to make sure she didn't try and leave. He straightened up at attention when he saw her, looking like he was fighting down the urge to salute. He was only a private (there'd been so much for her to catch up on, she knew she didn't have a full grasp of how the Army functioned, but one thing she _had_ learned to do was recognize rank insignia), but belonged to the Army Air Force, rather than the Army proper, so he seemed a bit confused as to how to react to her.

She settled it for him by putting one hand on her hip, cocking her head slightly as she gave him a Look, and adopted the tone the Captain had used when dealing with subordinates that annoyed him (she'd plead the Fifth as to whether or not it had ever been directed at her) as she said, "Are the clocks on this base _slow_ , Private?"

He somehow straightened even further. "No, Ma'am!"

Poor boy was obviously tightly wound. She might have felt bad about making that worse if she hadn't been so annoyed... and was the kind to feel bad about that sort of thing. "Because I've been waiting for over an _hour_ , now."

"Yes, Ma'am! I'm sure General Ricker has just been... delayed, Ma'am!"

"Private..." She sighed. "At ease before you sprain something."

"Ah... yes, Ma'am." He seemed mildly embarrassed as he forced himself to relax... a little.

Someone, she decided, might just be drinking a little too much coffee. And... She frowned, listening carefully. "Why do I hear hooves?" she wondered aloud.

Judging by the private's reaction, she'd just asked the worst question he could imagine. "That's... I-I-I don't know what you mean, Ma'am."

She blinked. "Wow. And people tell me _I'm_ a bad liar." The sound of hooves was getting closer, and quickly, indicating that _something_ was moving through the halls at a pretty good clip.

He was sweating, now. "I'm sure the General will be along shortly, Ma'am, if you'll just go back inside...?"

"No, I don't think I will," she decided, stepping around him. He tried to block her path, until she picked him up and moved him aside. He didn't seem to know quite how to react to that, and was still trying to figure it out when a tiny crimson form barreled around the corner, heading straight for her.

Hooves, as it turned out, weren't that great for skidding to a stop on polished concrete flooring (or polished _something_ , anyway). The little whatsit _did_ see her, but couldn't quite stop in time. She swiftly stepped to the side, then scooped it up before it could hurt itself... and to get a better look at... him?

Huh.

"Well, hello," she remarked as she set him down on his hooves. She _had_ come across demons now and then, over the centuries, so she could tell _what_ he was easily course, they'd all been fully grown. "What's your hurry, Little Red?" The hooves, tail, and horns she wasn't surprised by. His oversized right hand, short by a finger and made of stone...? That was slightly more odd. He was also wearing a miniature version of an Army uniform, which... Well, she honestly wasn't sure what to think of that, aside from guessing that whoever had dressed him hadn't exactly had a lot of alternatives to choose from.

"Hi!" he replied brightly. Had he been human, she would have guessed his age at around four or five years old. Since he wasn't... she had no idea.

"Hellboy!" a harried voice called from around the corner. "You know you're not- oh!" The woman it belonged to was moving at a much more restrained pace, and managed to stop well short of Carmilla. She was wearing a blue dress, making her the first civilian Carmilla had seen since leaving Germany. She also looked startled and uncertain, exchanging a look with the Private that seemed to be saying 'What do we do now?'.

Carmilla crouched down to look the little guy in the eyes. He _was_ adorable, she had to admit. (Still, though... Hellboy? That must have taken them a whole two or three seconds to think up.) "I get the feeling this _isn't_ where you're supposed to be, little guy."

"Well..." He scuffed his hoof on the floor, looking for all the world like a pouty toddler.

Oh, what the hell? It wasn't like she had anything better to be doing. (Though she had to remember, the last time that argument had been made, she'd wound up being essentially drafted into fighting a war.) She scooped him up before he could react, tickling his stomach until he giggled and squirmed. "Come on, where are you supposed to be?" she asked, amused, allowing herself a slight grin.

"He _should_ be in his room," a male voice - British, and full of fond exasperation - told her, and Hellboy bounced excitedly in her arms. She turned to see a slightly older man - older than the Private, anyway; the guy still only looked like he was in his 20s - also in civilian clothing, though a bit more formally dressed in his coat, sweater vest, and bow tie. "He's been leading us on a merry chase all over the base for some time, now." It was clear that the kid not only knew the man, but was delighted to see him, so Carmilla didn't resist when he took Hellboy from her arms. "Now, Hellboy, I need to talk with your new friend, here. I'd like you to go with Margaret and wait in your room, alright? I'll be along shortly."

"Okay, Professor!"

Yes, she admitted, the hug was adorable. That did not mean she was going to react. She was _not_ some huge... mush ball, she thought was the correct phrase. Once he was back on his own feet, Hellboy waved at her (with his oversized right hand), saying, "Bye!"

...okay, the kid's hand might have been, but _she_ wasn't made of stone. (No matter _what_ Mother had used to say.) "Bye," she repeated, unable to stop a smile. "And remember, easy on those corners."

"Okay!"

"I do apologize for the delay," the professor (?) told her once Hellboy and Margaret were gone. "Though, I trust you can see _why_ I'm late." There was an amused glint in his eyes as he said it.

"I suppose so," she allowed, then, after a lengthy pause, added, "I'm also guessing that you _don't_ have anything to do with my Mother." No one, not even a child, would stay that nice and sweet in _her_ care.

"No, though I would like to discuss her with you later." He held out a hand before she could simply outright refuse. "My name is Professor Trevor Bruttenholm. I'm the director of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense."

She shook his hand, mostly out of reflex, as she felt rather stunned from what he'd just said. "I... was not aware there _was_ such a thing." Her manners, long dormant, chose that moment to speak up. "My name is... Carmilla. Carmilla Karnstein." It was a risk, using her family name, but she wanted to see how he reacted.

"Ah..." He nodded, looking unsurprised. "I confess, after speaking with our other recent guest, I'd begun to suspect you might be connected to - or might simply _be_ \- the famous - or perhaps _infamous_ \- Countess Karnstein."

"Infamous, if you've heard anything with a grain of truth in it," she admitted. "Though not by choice." She glanced idly in the direction Hellboy had gone, then back at Bruttenholm. "I have some questions of my own."

"I expected you might," he said dryly, a slight smile on his face. He gestured toward the interview room. "Shall we?" As if just noticing the Private, Bruttenholm added, "That will be all, Private Hicks."

"Yes, Sir," Hicks replied, giving them a quick salute, then hurrying off. He still didn't seem to know what to make of Carmilla's nonchalance in meeting a young demon, which told her he didn't have any idea who or what _she_ really was, which was a good sign.

The Professor allowed her to sit first, which could have just been good manners or indicating that he was aware of her (justifiable) wariness and had no problem letting her sit facing the door, while he had his back to it. Or both. "So, Miss Karnstein - or do you prefer Technician?"

"I'd _prefer_ that you explain what I'm doing here." Meeting the kid had been nice, and she could see why Bruttenholm was late (though Private Hicks seemed to think she'd been waiting on a General Ricker), but really, how hard would it have been to get someone to at least let her know there'd been a delay?

Another wryly amused smile flashed across his face. "I shall endeavor to do so. First, though, I believe I should explain just who _we_ are." And explain he did. He told her how, as a member of the British Paranormal Society, he'd served as an advisor to U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt when the Allies realized that the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was racing to use the occult to turn the tide of World War II. Project Ragna Rok, a plan to use black magic to win the war, was put in place by the supposedly deceased mystic Rasputin. However, on December 23, 1944 in East Bromwich, England, a youthful demon came into the possession of Bruttenholm, not Rasputin. There was obviously a definite bond between the two, which was the only reason his admission that they were studying the young Hellboy in their labs didn't make her simply get up and walk out.

Given her history, it was only natural that using and corrupting an innocent child would set her off. (Not that she'd been a _child_ , exactly, when Mother had found her... but she had been innocent, once. That she'd never harmed any children herself was one of the few things she'd had to cling to while in the coffin.)

Bruttenholm and the others with him that night had rallied around the child, forming the beginning of the BPRD, a private (or semi-private, she thought, given the definite military presence, and that they were housed in an Air Force base) organization dedicated to combating occult threats. "Which is where you come in," he told her. "I've no doubt the Bureau will grow into something great, but even now, we're still finding our footing. Our list of field agents isn't exactly what one would call lengthy, and even fewer of those would be capable of combating any severe threats, quite yet. We could use you, both for your abilities as well as your knowledge. Sadly, intelligent and inquisitive minds are always harder to come by than strong bodies and fast reflexes."

That was true enough. She wouldn't want to speak ill of her former comrades-in-arms in the 8th, but, well, none of them had exactly been geniuses. (They hadn't been stupid, by any means, simply not academics like Professor Bruttenholm was.) "That sounds interesting," she allowed. "It also sounds like something that would attract all kinds of attention. Attention I don't want."

"It could," he admitted. "Though as the Army has already demonstrated, providing you with an assumed identity, complete with identification, isn't terribly difficult. Provided you don't mind working to get rid of your accent, we can even quietly spread a story about how a young woman was killed by a vampire somewhere in the United States, and wound up being taken in by the BPRD after we killed him."

"That... could work." She still wasn't entirely convinced, though. Fighting in an Army unit had been one thing. The only people aside from the GIs who saw her tended to die fairly quickly. This would mean interacting with the public. And if even _one_ of them recognized her...

"I can assure you, this is one of the few places on Earth where you might safely hide from this 'Mother' of yours," Bruttenholm told her, reading her expression, if not her mind.

"You don't know her." So she explained. She didn't know much about the woman - she only knew her as Mother, though she'd heard a few refer to her as Lilith over the centuries - save that she was very old, and very wise, and had pried apart the jaws of Death to enact her rescue. (She still didn't know exactly who had killed her, though, knowing what she now did, she was willing to bet Mother had ultimately been behind it, somehow.) With that age had come great power, tremendous influence, and God only knew how many contacts.

Then she told him about the girls.

He'd already had an idea of who Carmilla was, so he wasn't terribly surprised. She mentioned her theory that Mother had reshaped her to her liking more than she'd known, though she wasn't sure why that didn't quite seem to be holding, anymore. (Presumably, her time in the coffin - and the strain on her mind it had caused - had played a part.) Neither of them knew just what _happened_ to the girls that were taken, or where Mother took them. Unfortunately, five girls being taken every twenty years was a hard pattern to keep track of, given that Mother had never limited just where she took them from. Carmilla could remember one time that they had collected girls from five different continents, though that had been a rare exception. They'd usually been gathered from within the same country, though given the average rate of missing persons in most countries, five girls being taken by vampires for whatever reason would be impossible to tell apart from all the other missing girls.

They had a little over nine-and-a-half years before it happened again, though. "Perhaps with your help, we might be able to prevent it," Bruttenholm suggested.

It was a tantalizing possibility, she had to admit. To stall for time while she thought, she said, "You said something before, about a recent guest who'd been talking about me?"

Bruttenholm smiled, likely guessing her motivation, but not objecting. "Indeed. That was the _other_ reason I was so late - and I do apologize again for that."

Having already forgiven him for the delay, Carmilla felt no need to repeat herself. "So?"

"Perhaps if you spoke with him yourself, it might help you make up your mind," Bruttenholm suggested, standing up. "He should still be in the Visitor's Center."

She stood up as well. She'd passed through the Visitor's Center on her way in, and hadn't seen anyone. (Really, she'd been given the impression that this base didn't _get_ a lot of visitors, though evidently her count was off by at least one.) "Lead the way."

She'd been paying close attention to her surroundings on the way in, but knowing what she did now... it _still_ just looked like an average military base out in the desert. But, as the Professor had said, that _was_ somewhere that her Mother would never think to look for her...

She caught the sound of an argument before they were even close to the Visitor's Center - or the VC, as the military personnel on base seemed to call it. She didn't recognize either voice, but as they got closer she was able to pick out details of what they were saying. One of them seemed to be the General she'd initially thought she was there to meet, while the other was another professor... and one not nearly so well liked as Bruttenholm.

"I've heard quite enough of this nonsense, Professor Frost," the General was saying.

"Nonsense?! I'm telling you, that beast must be destroyed! Did you even read the information I sent you? He'll be the end of us all!"

He? Wait... Were they talking about...?

Professor Bruttenholm blinked to find himself suddenly alone walking down the hall, only a rush of air indicating where his guest had gone.

Carmilla knew better than to judge someone by their appearances - she herself was proof of how foolish that could be - but something about that Frost person made her immediately dislike him. (Maybe it was the mustache, maybe it was the shiny glasses that mostly hid his eyes... or maybe it was that he wanted to kill a toddler. Or some combination, maybe. Who knew?) The General... she barely paid much attention to. "Excuse me," she began in a calm, controlled voice that would have _immediately_ alerted anyone that knew her. "I don't believe I heard you correctly."

She'd startled pretty much everyone in the room by just suddenly _appearing_ in their midst, though the open door behind her would serve as proof she hadn't _really_ done any such thing. (And there were a _lot_ more people there than there had been when she'd arrived. Guards?) "Excuse me, young lady," Frost began as he worked to regain his composure. "But I don't think-"

"Yeah, I picked up on that," she said flatly. "Let's be perfectly clear about something." She reached out, grabbed him by the collar, and yanked him closer. "You are not going to touch that boy."

"Now, see here-!"

"You've already been told your presence is not required on this base, Professor," General Ricker said. He had a gruff, no-nonsense tone that instantly brought her Captain to mind. Maybe it was a military thing. If so, that suggested to her that this Ricker was also one of the good ones. "You can leave, or you can be escorted out."

"You know full well I have-"

"For a professor, you're not very bright, are you?" Carmilla asked. With no effort at all, she lifted him clear off the ground. "I suggest you start paying closer attention to what you're told. For your own sake."

"I'd listen to the lady if I were you, Professor," a familiar voice interjected, and she _just_ managed to keep her reaction from being too embarrassing as she turned to her right.

"Hutch!" She was a little ashamed of how good it felt to see a familiar face, after how quickly things had been changing. "What are _you_ doing here?" she asked, ignoring the struggling Frost dangling from her left fist. He'd have to tear his shirt before he got free of her grasp.

He offered her that shrug that always made her want to either hug him or smack him. (Usually the latter.) "Well, as you know, I don't exactly have anything to go home to." His lack of family had come up more than once, but no one had ever made a big deal out of it. "Doing something to make a difference that _doesn't_ always mean killing people was definitely appealing. And come on; you didn't _really_ think we were gonna just let you get sent off to who knows where by yourself, did you?"

It was when he said things like _that_ that she tended to veer more towards 'hug' than 'smack'.

"Shall I take it, then, that you've decided to accept Professor Bruttenholm's offer?" General Ricker asked, eyeing her.

She considered... and came to a decision. "Well, before I do officially accept it, I think I need to take out the trash. If someone could get the door?"

"Oh, allow me," Hutch insisted.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Frost proclaimed as she carried him - still only by one hand, and he couldn't have been blind to the implications behind that - toward the exit. "That Beast will be the ruin of all! He must be destroyed!"

She smirked. "Hey, Hutch, remember when we first met?" _And just what set me off against the Nazis?_ her subtext added.

"Of course." His tone turned dry. "I think it would be rude to leave entrails on the floor on your first day here, though."

"Hmm. True enough." She stopped at the door, fixing Frost with a glare. "For your own sake, Professor, I strongly suggest you _not_ come back. If you do... Well, let's just say that, by then, they'll know me well enough here that I'll quite literally be able to get away with murder." She unceremoniously tossed him out the door without another word - though, not wanting to break it, she let Hutch close the door.

The guards behind her erupted into quiet but heartfelt cheers.

Carmilla glanced from them, to a quietly pleased General Ricker, to a far more obviously pleased Hutch, to Professor Bruttenholm as he finally arrived. "You know," she declared to no one in particular, "I think I'm gonna like it here."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

**October 9th, 2014**

**Lynnhaven Mall, Virginia Beach**

**Virginia, USA**

 

"I swear, Red, if you dragged me out here for a shopping trip..."

The implied threat, and the annoyed tone it was delivered in, was greeted with a gruff chuckle. "Oh, yeah, because everyone knows I just can't get enough shopping."

Carmilla stifled her impatience as best she could. "You _know_ what year it is. _Three times_ , now, we haven't found any sign of Mother or the girls she'd have taken. Hell, we still don't even know _why_ she's doing it. I'm in no mood for distractions."

"You were banging your head against the wall, and nearly took the new guy's head off for asking you about it. You needed something to clear your head; this was as good a 'something' as any."

"Oh, please. He didn't even need stitches."

"Hey, I get it, you know? Sometimes, you just need to hit something." He shrugged. "Better something that deserves it than our staff."

Had the mall not been evacuated, anyone watching would have decided the two made a rather unlikely duo. She was about 5'3", dark hair hanging past her shoulders, wearing a black shirt, dark pants, black leather combat boots, and an olive green BPRD field jacket (that reminded her _just_ enough of the Army she used to wear until there actually _was_ a specific BPRD coat that she felt comfortable in it)... while he was just over seven feet tall, crimson red, wearing a tan duster and a pair of shorts (there really weren't any shirts that fit him, unless ther were special ordered, and he'd never wear something like that on an assignment where it could be damaged or destroyed), and had yellow eyes, a tail, hooves on his feet. His massive right hand was made of some kind of stone, and even after seventy years, no one really knew how it worked, let alone where it had come from. (No one who was talking, anyway.) The only thing they seemed to have in common was the BPRD logo on their jacket sleeves.

In truth, they'd known each other since mid-1945. Carmilla had been among those who'd helped raise Hellboy, and he was one of the few that really seemed to _get_ her. She tried not to let anyone in, these days, but he'd snuck his way past her defenses as a toddler, and simply stayed there. If Professor Bruttenholm was Hellboy's adopted father, it was something of a running joke that she was the 'cool aunt' - even if there was more truth to that than she'd care to admit.

Ironically, despite his appearance, he was probably more human than she was.

"Whatever," she said with a sigh. "Not that there seems to _be_ anything here to hit. Why didn't you bring Liz? She's been wanting to replace that iPod you broke."

"Because all the stores are full of nice, flammable _everything_ , and you know she's still a bit twitchy after that thing with the giant Mayan zombie bat."

Elizabeth Sherman - Liz, to anyone that knew her - was a petite brunette (meaning they were about the same height) with devastating pyrokinetic abilities and such a heartbreakingly tragic past that Carmilla had been hard pressed to keep from becoming overly attached to her, too. (Whether she'd succeeded in that or not depended on her mood any given day.) She'd developed some pyrokinesis herself as she'd grown in power over the centuries, but nothing like that. She suspected that even Mother, as ancient as she was, couldn't come close to matching the literal firepower the girl possessed.

It was _control_ that Liz was still trying to figure out. In that, at least, Carmilla could help her.

"And Abe?" she asked, shaking off thoughts of the absent firestarter. "You two go everywhere together. Honestly, it's kinda weird seeing you here without him."

"He was still wrapping up that thing in Lake Michigan when we were leaving."

"Oh, right, the Michigan Triangle strikes again. What was it this time?"

"Air Force plane with some kind of Top Secret gadget."

"Right." Now she remembered. The crew had bailed out and been safely rescued, but the Air Force had been insistent that they get back the... whatever it was. Abe, naturally, had been the best choice to recover it - and certainly had high enough clearance.

Abe was... unique. Even Carmilla hadn't seen anything quite like him prior to their first meeting. As far as she knew, neither had anyone else. In 1978, a comatose, amphibious man was found inside a water-filled capsule within a long-lost chamber beneath St. Trinian's Hospital in Washington, D.C. by a group of plumbers. That sort of thing, naturally, pinged loudly on the BPRD's radar, and they quickly intercepted the creature, which the plumbers had dubbed "Abraham Sapien," in reference to the scrap of paper written on his tube: April 14th 1865 - the date of President Abraham Lincoln's death. Nobody was quite sure what to make of that particular note.

Unresponsive for weeks, it wasn't until BPRD scientists experimented with shocking him that he woke up. Prior to that, they'd been debating whether or not to give up trying to revive him and just skip to dissection.

Unsure what the creature in the tube was, he was held under scrutiny by the Bureau as scientists studied him. However, Hellboy felt sympathy for him, told the doctors to shut down the experiments, because "they never stop until someone says 'enough'". Abe came out of his tank healthy, if disoriented, and quickly responded to human contact. Despite no memory of a previous life, he was soon able to speak fluent English, apparently remembering the language rather than learning it.

Hellboy and other Bureau agents such as Liz Sherman were both particularly fond of Abe, and the three of them formed a lasting friendship. Carmilla called him "Fishcakes". He called her "Elvira". They played chess sometimes.

"And the new guy?" If she kept letting herself get so distracted, she might actually miss whatever action eventually developed - assuming any did - or, worse, actually need rescuing. That would just be embarrassing.

"Well, Leach might not have needed stitches, but the doctors did kinda need to make sure he didn't have a concussion after you threw him _into_ the wall."

"...I _did_ apologize."

"Yeah. I heard Manning nearly fainted from shock."

"Wiseass." She couldn't quite stifle an impatient sigh. "Still waiting on that 'something to hit' that you promised me."

"We're almost there."

"Uh-huh." She glared at the XXI Forever store as they passed it. It was so easy to wish for something like that when you didn't know what went along with it. "They didn't give many details in the briefing. What makes the higher-ups so sure that-" She was interrupted by a loud roar from the part of the mall they were heading toward. "...never mind." She shook her head. "Somebody took the 'Build-A-Bear Workshop' thing a bit _too_ literally, I see."

There were at least a dozen patchwork grizzlies in sight as they rounded the corner, and from the sound of it, even more inside the store itself. Assuming grizzly bears were about the size of the average minibus.

Hellboy unholstered his gun. The Good Samaritan, as he called it, was an oversized, uniquely large caliber four-round revolver. It fired its custom-made bullets with adequate power to easily penetrate virtually any material. The gun itself also seemed to have an unearthly resistance to almost all forms of attack, and included grips carved from fragments of the True Cross, while the metal of the gun was forged from a combination of Irish church bells, cold iron from crucifixes, blessed silver, and other mystic metals. Carmilla couldn't even touch it without hurting herself.

The Samaritan only held four of its oversized rounds, and Hellboy couldn't load it terribly well with his oversized right hand. As a result, he'd gotten adept at loading and firing it with his left.

Well, loading it, anyway. He was kind of a lousy shot.

Carmilla _did_ have a gun, but given the size of the Frakenbears, it wouldn't have done much good. She could heal very quickly, but that didn't mean she _liked_ being sliced up or bitten, and something with the size and mass of the supersized grizzlies they were facing now could be tough for even someone with her strength to punch out - and given what they were, it might not even be possible to render them unconscious, while trying to tear them apart would require her to hold still long enough for them to get a shot at her. As such, the BPRD's weapons division had developed something for her to use in just such a situation.

She withdrew what looked like a sword handle from within her jacket, then snapped it down, extending the collapsible blade, which quickly locked into place. She wasn't quite sure what it was made out of - they'd _tried_ to explain it to her, once - but for all that it was hollow, it was as sharp as any solid sword, and far, far more durable. Really, that was all she needed to know about it.

"Let's get to work," Hellboy remarked with a casualness that would have taken anyone who didn't know him off guard.

Carmilla, who _did_ , merely allowed herself a small smile.

* * *

"I'd really love to know how the Build-A-Bear people didn't notice all _that_ going on in their basement - or that they _had_ a basement, for that matter," Carmilla said as she settled into her seat on the plane. She still didn't fly commercially, though this was a private plane, rather than an uncomfortable military transport. (The helicopter, a Boeing CH-47 Chinook, would come once they landed in Colorado.) She had, at least, gotten used to it. She didn't _like_ it, exactly, but it didn't really bother her, anymore, which was about the best she could do, with some things.

If she had to fly, though, a Gulfstream was a nice way to do it.

"Pretty sure the owner would, too." Hellboy shrugged. "The police can work that out. We did our part."

"True." She had to admit, he'd been right: she _had_ enjoyed having an appropriate outlet for her frustrations. She'd almost been in a good mood by the time they left, to the point of regretting the Dave & Buster's hadn't been open - she could have used a snack, and a game of pool. Hellboy, naturally, wouldn't hear of just going in and having some fun before they sounded the all-clear anyway, and also insisted she not simply help herself to anything from any of the stores. (She'd _mostly_ gotten out of the habit of just taking things that she wanted, having had a steady paycheck for seventy years - indeed, living at BPRD HQ and having much of her clothing and blood supplied by the organization, the money in her bank account tended to keep growing - but some things were impossible to completely shake. She blamed the cat in her.)

As much as she enjoyed their missions together - something that happened more and more rarely since cell phone cameras and YouTube became increasingly prevalent, to say nothing of the security cameras, traffic cameras, people that brought their video cameras with them wherever they went, as if they couldn't bear the thought of not recording every facet of their lives - there were times when Red was just no fun.

Her phone began ringing, and she pulled it out of her pocket. As much as she might resent the ubiquitous cameras that came on most current cell phones, she couldn't deny the convenience of instantaneous communication around the globe from almost anywhere. (Provided you could get a signal, of course.) She tried to adjust to the times as best she could, but there was a part of her that didn't appreciate the rapid pace of technological advancement, though it would probably be a bigger part if she was part of the world enough to care that people spent more time staring at tiny screens than they did actually _talking_ to people. She looked at the display, and her lips quirked into an almost-smile. "Cutting it a bit close, aren't you, Kate? We're gonna be lifting off any minute."

" _I know,_ " Kate replied, and Carmilla could hear a kind of restrained excitement in her voice. That didn't necessarily mean anything, though. Doctor Katherine "Kate" Corrigan was a professor of history at New York University (specializing in folklore) before she joined the BPRD as a consultant, and had written sixteen books on folklore and occult history, including the confessions of Isobel Gowdie. She _liked_ the weird stuff, and something like their mission would have no doubt thrilled her. " _I look forward to reading your reports,_ " she continued, seemingly confirming Carmilla's belief. Then Kate said something she didn't expect. " _That can wait, though. I have something much more important to tell you, first._ "

Kate, putting off hearing about techno-magical ursine reconstruction? Okay, she was curious, now. "And what would that be?"

" _We just got a hit._ "

"Okay...?"

" _No, Carmilla, you don't get it. I'm calling_ _ **you**_ _because_ _ **we just got a hit**_ _._ "

A second later, comprehension dawned. "What?! Where?"

Her urgent tone immediately caught Hellboy's attention, but she ignored him, focusing on the phone. Had they _finally_ caught a break? " _Boot up your laptop,_ " Kate told her. " _I just emailed you a number of video files. Watch them. I'll call you back once you're done._ " Though she'd probably use the BPRD's satellite communication system for that. She'd likely only called on the phone this time to be sure she caught Carmilla's attention, since by the time the comms were widely in use, Carmilla barely ever went out on missions. As such, she wasn't always very good at remembering to make sure hers was turned on.

Carmilla didn't bother saying goodbye when she hung up - Kate knew her, and what this meant to her, so she wouldn't mind - and nearly tore her bag open in her haste to get the computer from it. "What's going on?" Hellboy asked, probably not for the first time, judging by his tone.

"They've got some kind of lead." Her hands were shaking as she booted up the laptop, and she made herself take a deep breath, trying to calm down. "It may be nothing. It wouldn't be the first time, after all." She didn't like thinking about that, about the crushing disappointment she'd felt so many times when their leads failed to pan out. "Something about some videos..."

There were, in fact, a number of videos, being posted by one Laura Hollis as part of her Intro to Investigative Reporting class, and... Was that a Twitter handle? She didn't use that particular social media platform herself - really, she didn't use social media at all - but she made a note to look it up later, should this lead actually pan out. It might provide her with additional information.

"Silas University in picturesque Styria, where nothing, not even the homecoming goat sacrifice, disturbs the pursuit of knowledge," Hollis intoned. "But under the surface of this placid institute of higher learning you'll find mystery after mystery. Just last week, students using the catalogue reported a search window claiming it was lost, begging for help to find Dudley Chapel, which burnt down in 1904. So, harmless prank or terrifying mystery waiting–" She was clearly trying to make it sound more dramatic than it actually was... so maybe her journalism class was working out for her, then. That was certainly what most reporters Carmilla had ever known of tended to do. And if that was the most exciting story the girl could find, Carmilla could understand why she might want to try and spice it up.

Really, she was more troubled by the fact that this had come from a college in Styria, of all places.

The Hollis girl's roommate, Betty Spielsdorf, had come in while she'd been distracted, announcing she'd passed some test... with a 62. She seemed fine with that, though Hollis thought she could do better. Then there was discussion of celebrating and a Quad Mixer, and someone named Danny...? She was on the verge of fast forwarding when the video did it for her. Evidently, Hollis realized her audience might get bored and leave if she didn't do something. "I swear, if this is just about the damned library's catalogue becoming self-aware..." Yes, that might be something the BPRD would be interested in, but her, personally? Not so much.

"This is still only the first one," Hellboy told her reassuringly. She nodded, more to herself than anything. He was right. She just had to be patient.

She'd been waiting for a chance like this for over a century, though. She only had so much patience left.

Once the montage ended, there was a title card reading: THE MORNING AFTER.

Hollis, looking like she'd clearly had a bit too much of a good time the night before, took a sip of something and set her mug - her TARDIS mug, to Carmilla's vague amusement; if the girl only knew - and, after a moment, noiced her camera was still on. "Oh, crap. Have you been on this whole night?" Something evidently occurred to her, and a sly smile tugged at her lips. "Let's just do a little before and after, shall we?" Carmilla's own lips twitched. That was an impulse she could certainly appreciate. "And how is the Jägerbombinatrix doing this morning?" Hollis asked as she got up, took a couple of steps over to her roommate's bed, and pulled back the covers to reveal... it was empty. She frowned. "Betty? Bets?" She looked toward the bathroom, in case she'd missed the Spielsdorf girl getting up before, but it was obvious she hadn't. "Is this some kind of a joke?" Something on the floor caught her attention, and she bent down to pick it up, revealing it to be a notecard, covered in... something. "Ugh… What the…?" She peered at the card, reading aloud, "'Dear Student, your roommate no longer attends Silas'… What the what?"

Carmilla sat up. "Well, now we're talking." Not only was there a definite missing girl, but that sludge was familiar, too. The BPRD might not have caught up to any of the missing girls the last few times, but there had been one or two occasions when they'd managed to identify one after the fact, and there had been a mysterious unknown substance found at their last known location - both of which had been in Eastern Europe, now that she thought about it. And for that matter... "God, how did I not see it? Spielsdorf was displaying _textbook_ symptoms!"

"Because a college girl who likes to party isn't exactly unusual?" Hellboy guessed.

"True enough," she conceded. "I-" She froze. "It _isn't_ , is it? Partying all the time, vanishing... Everyone would just think she got careless, approached someone she shouldn't have, or something. They'd look for her, but they'd never really expect to find her. _That's_ why we haven't picked up on any missing girls, the last few times! It wasn't out of the ordinary, and any sludge would just be taken as something one of the students had left there, so no one said anything that would raise any flags at the agency."

The next of the videos suggested that, not only might she have been right, but the girls might even have been taken from the _same_ college, because they were _seriously_ giving Hollis the runaround. Campus Security was _utterly_ less-than-helpful, while calling the police of whatever town Silas University was located in revealed that, unless they had absolutely no choice, they wouldn't come anywhere _near_ Silas. The card Hollis had found was also multiple choice - they'd marked off option B: 'has elected to attend another school due to your extreme incompatibility' which was never a good sign.

Nor was the phone call Hollis got, it seemed. "Uh, hi, Betty! Yes, oh, yes, yes! I am the girl with the missing roommate. Thank you so much for calling, nobody else seems to… What? No, I don't need a new roommate! I already have a roommate. Or, I would if she wasn't missing. No, you can stop yelling! I'm just–" There was an audible dial tone.

Hollis managed to restrain herself, but her frustration had clearly reached a peak. "The university doesn't wanna help find Betty? Fine. I've got three weeks of a journalism class and I've seen all of Veronica Mars. I'll find her myself."

Carmilla snorted. "Cupcake, if I haven't managed that in sixty years with all the resources of the BPRD at my disposal, I don't think _you're_ going to manage it." The next part of the video certainly seemed to agree with her; Hollis was despairing at how _no one_ cared that a girl was missing. She was starting to wonder why there were additional video files - didn't they already know all they needed to? - when things took a turn for the odd.

A petite blonde girl walked into the room. "Oh. Um. Hello."

"Hi," Hollis replied warily. "Um... Who are you?"

"Bree - well, Sabrina, but nobody calls me _that_ but my mother. Um... I'm your new roommate?"

Alarm bells began going off in Carmilla's head.

The next video picked up right where that one had left off. "My what?" Hollis demanded.

"Your... new roommate?" 'Bree' was looking uncertain. "Didn't... Didn't they call you? They should have called you. I mean, they _said_ they were going to-"

"No. I mean, yes, they did, but..." Hollis made a visible effort to calm down. "I already have a roommate. Her name is Betty."

"Oh." Bree looked around. "Not to be difficult, but, um, where is she?"

"She's... missing right now," Hollis admitted. "I've been trying to get someone to do _something_ since last night, and, no offense, but _this_ is really not what I had in mind!"

"No, I... I get that. But... Well, my stuff is on its way over - what little of it's left, anyway - and I don't exactly have anywhere else to go."

The Hollis girl's hostility began melting away. "Why? What happened?" Carmilla was beginning to get a sense of her, of her caring and compassionate nature, and realized that was probably about to be used against her.

"I'd been rooming with one of the Alchemy Club kids," Bree began, and Carmilla's eyebrows rose at the mention of an 'Alchemy Club'. How had this school not caught _someone's_ attention before now? "There was apparently a little... accident. No one was hurt, but most of the stuff in the room kind of... dissolved. I've been staying on a cot down in the Infirmary for the past few days, waiting to hear something." Her expression turned mildly pleading. "Look, I don't know anything about this Betty, but I got a letter from the Dean of Students that said I live here, now. I mean, I can start looking at off-campus housing, in case you find her, but... Okay, I don't know if you've ever _met_ the Dean, but she is _really_ scary. I-I don't wanna make her mad at me. I _promise_ I'll stay out of the way!"

To Carmilla's utter lack of surprise, Hollis gave in. "...okay. I mean, it's not like any of this is _your_ fault." Personally, Carmilla wasn't sure about that.

"Thank you, thank you, _thank you_!" Bree gushed, giving her a hug. Hollis went rigid, clearly not knowing how to react to that. "...sorry," Bree said when she pulled back. "I... get excited, sometimes."

"Don't worry about it," Hollis said, waving it off. "Is there anything you need?"

"No, I don't... _think_ so," Bree said a moment's thought later. "Oh, um... There is one thing. The doctor's got me on a protein supplement. These little bottles of... Yeah. Anyway, they need to be refrigerated."

Hollis gave a tired smile, seemingly glad to have a simple problem with an equally simple solution. Carmilla could understand that. "Don't worry, there's plenty of room."

As she watched the fourth video - in which Bree seemed to be doing her best to stay out of the way, as promised - Carmilla couldn't shake the tightening of her gut. It only got worse when an interview with the Floor Don - and what the hell kind of title was that? - and her friend (Unofficial Truthspeaker? What?) revealed there had been _other_ missing girls, who'd returned with no memory of their missing time. " _Three_ of them, already..."

"But they're not showing symptoms, yet. Which means we still have time."

"Yeah..." She turned on her comm. "Kate?"

" _Either you're skipping parts, or you haven't watched them all, yet,_ " came the prompt reply. Despite her words, Kate had clearly been expecting the call.

"We've got a few hours of flying time, yet." She'd been so absorbed in the videos, she almost hadn't noticed when they lifted off, and certainly hadn't cared. "Who's in charge of this 'Silas University'?"

" _Getting_ _ **any**_ _information about that school is almost as hard getting the last pancake away from Hellboy,_ " Kate complained, ignoring Carmilla's snort of amusement. Fortunately, so was Hellboy - he and Kate were too good friends for him to be offended. " _There are_ _ **no**_ _pictures, no news articles... All we've been able to turn up is a single line in an article from the local paper that gives the name Lilita Morgan._ "

Carmilla's armrest abruptly splintered in her grasp. "Lilita? As in, Lilith?" As in, the only other name for Mother that she had?

" _It would explain a lot._ "

Yes, it would. And if Mother really was the Dean, and she'd specifically assigned that 'Bree' person as a replacement roommate for Hollis...

"We'd better start moving fast on this," she said, as much to herself as to Kate, "or Nancy Drew's a dead girl."

 

* * *

 

 **Author's Note:** So, with Carmilla not there, naturally Laura needed a different replacement roomie. We'll be learning more about Bree as we go, but one thing I can say now is that she'd be played by Cheyenne Kimball.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** Seeing as I've decided that this version of Silas would be located in or near a town, unlike on the show - it may be necessary for dramatic purposes, but I don't think a completely isolated college would be terribly practical, and somebody as overprotective as Papa Hollis would never let his daughter go there, in my opinion - I naturally had to then come up with that town. I actually found a real one that might fit, though, having never been there - and it being small enough to have little available information online - it will likely not be a terribly accurate representation. However, given the blatantly not Austrian cast, I think that was likely understood going in. ;)

* * *

By the time she got to the sixth video, Carmilla had to ask, "Okay, are we sure this Hollis girl isn't dead already?"

It was a fair question, she thought. Kate had only sent her the six videos, and Hollis certainly seemed intent on throwing herself into the line of fire. It reached its peak - and finally explained how the BPRD had come across the videos - when Hollis announced her intention to post her Journalism project online so that all the students of Silas - and anyone in town who kept up on such things - could see it.

Bree _really_ didn't seem to like that idea. "That'll be awfully annoying for the university," she warned, looking unhappy. "And, um, the Dean." Hollis wasn't paying her much attention, so she didn't see Bree trying to bury a shudder. Carmilla, on the other hand, was, and that just made it seem all the more likely that she was right about just who the Dean of Students at Silas was.

"Well, then she can come and talk to me about it," Hollis declared.

"She probably _will_ ," Bree replied, anxious. "You-you-you don't really want that, do you? I mean, remember the part where she's _really scary_?"

"Well, too late, now." Hollis hit a final button. "It's up."

For maybe one second, nothing happened.

Then an odd whooping alarm began sounding, and lights were seen flashing in the hallway through the door that the two abduction victims had (rudely) left open when they'd left. "What is that?!" Hollis demanded, understandably confused.

Bree had been startled by the sudden light and noise, too, but clearly knew what it meant. "Well, now you've done it..."

"Is that a fire alarm?"

Bree's look was pitying. "It was really nice knowing you, Laura."

"What?"

LaFontaine and Perry ran by the door. Perry dashed hurriedly into the room, while LaFontaine seemed to be directing traffic behind her - that, or signaling an airplane to land. "It's a town hall meeting!" Perry informed them urgently. "They've called a town hall! Remember your training, we've got five minutes! Run, run!" Idly, Carmilla wondered what happened to those who were late. If Mother really _was_ in charge of that university... Well, suffice to say, it wouldn't be anything good.

Laura got up and hurried behind Perry out the door. Bree, left alone, took one of Laura's cookies and munched on it forlornly. "Shame," she said with a sigh. "I liked this one, too." She headed after the others at a much more sedate pace, and the video stopped.

"Well, _somebody_ posted that last video," Hellboy said with a shrug, answering Carmilla's question. "Roommate number two doesn't seem like she'd want to risk the Dean's wrath by doing it, and no one else seems to really want to be involved at all."

"Yeah..." Still, the odds of Hollis's survival were getting lower and lower with every video she posted. If she died, that would mean one more victory, however small, for her Mother. Besides, girls being killed by ancient vampires were something she was now _professionally_ opposed to.

She spent the rest of the flight reading over what the BPRD had managed to round up about Silas University - which wasn't a lot. It had been established in 1871, which surprised her. Mother had never said a word about building a college... though she must have been doing _something_ while Carmilla had been busy reeling in her targets. Presumably, had she not tried to flee with Elle and been thrown into the coffin, she would have wound up posing as a student there herself, eventually. If that Bree girl _was_ also a vampire, she probably wasn't the only one there. She'd have to be careful about who she let see her until she was ready.

Silas was located in - or at least near - the town of Trofaiach, near the Hochschwab Alps. More specifically, the village of Hafning bei Trofaiach, which was part of that town. Trofaiach was part of the Styrian 'Iron Road'... which had nothing to do with anything, she realized, annoyed with herself as she caught herself letting her interest in her native land distract her, and refocused. Any information they'd dug up about Silas itself was less than helpful, being just basic stuff you could find about any college. A few somewhat less reputable sources claimed they had the most comprehensive occult and supernatural research program in the world, which would make some sense, though, again, Carmilla wanted to know how the BPRD hadn't picked up so much as a blip about this school before now.

Kate didn't know that, either, and seemed almost as annoyed, though for less personal reasons. She assured Carmilla during one of the several calls back and forth that she'd have the entire team assembled and waiting upon their return to BPRD HQ. Knowing Kate as she did, that also meant that they'd be fully caught up on everything they knew.

Kate was good at that sort of thing.

It wasn't until they were a few minutes away from landing that Kate's voice broke the pensive silence on the plane again (Carmilla had been too distracted and tense for conversation, and Hellboy was stoic at the best of times). " _Another video just popped up,_ " she announced over the comm.

Carmilla, who hadn't started packing up her computer, yet, on the off chance just such an event occurred, wasted no time in pulling it up. "Give me the highlights?"

" _I haven't watched it, yet, myself,_ " Kate admitted. Carmilla grunted, falling silent, and hit play. Hollis started this one with a flashback to the last video, as if anyone watching would have forgotten how it had ended.

"So, that was harrowing," she said as the flashback window faded and disappeared. Hollis herself seemed a bit disheveled, and not in the fun way. "They really do not like tardiness here. Sorry for getting all cliffhanger-y. Sometimes a girl's gotta manufacture her own excitement, you know?" Bree, sitting on her bed, sighed quietly, shaking her head. Carmilla understood the sentiment.

"So, did Silas' byzantine bureaucracy finally call a town hall to discuss the fact that girls have gone missing? Nope. Apparently, uploading anything 'inflammatory' to the Silas Ethernet - a word they can't even spell properly, by the way - sets off an immediate security response."

"Well, I think I got the worst of it out," someone off-screen announced, and Hollis was immediately on her feet. "Thanks for letting me use your bathroom." Whoever it was came into frame... sort of. The camera had been set up for someone Laura's height, so the new girl - who looked to be about an entire foot taller - was being cut off at the shoulders.

"Oh, yeah, totally." She seemed somewhat nervous and self-conscious, and in an apparent effort to distract attention away from herself, turned to Bree and said, "I still don't understand how you got of all that completely unscathed."

"I stayed back, out of the way." She gave Laura an unreadable look. "When you're the one throwing yourself into the lion's den, you're the one who ends up getting mauled."

"Uh... right."

"Does Austria have a high population of redheads?" Hellboy wondered quietly. The new girl was leaning down as she briskly toweled her hair, giving them a better look at her, and she was the third one they'd seen in Hollis's videos.

"No," Carmilla murmured back. "Not that anyone we've seen has sounded _at all_ Austrian." Maybe she should have paid more attention to the census data on Trofaiach, after all. They seemed to have a surprisingly high immigrant population. She'd think it was just that Silas was an international school, but if that were true, the BPRD _would_ have heard of it before now, since they kept track of that sort of thing.

The new girl finally noticed what Hollis had been doing before she'd walked into the room. "Oh. Hey, are you making another video? Like, eight hot seconds after almost being busted?"

"Uh, yes," Hollis admitted, earning another disapproving headshake from Bree.

"That's pretty ballsy, Hollis."

"Yeah, ballsy! That's me. Besides, LaFontaine thinks she's figured out a way to post them safely, and I have got to report on the crazy at the town hall, right?"

"Maybe also explain why they call a school assembly a 'town hall'?" Carmilla complained. Somehow, she didn't think she was going to be getting an answer to that one anytime soon.

Hollis, meanwhile, had grabbed a stool and brought it over to the desk for the new girl to sit on - then switching seats with her once she saw how that only made their height difference worse, to Carmilla's quiet amusement - and finally introducing her as Danny Lawrence, her "very awesome English Lit TA" and 'VP of outdoor rec for the Summer Society', some kind of outdoor social club for all girls athletics. (Carmilla had no idea what an 'Adonis Festival and Hunt' was, beyond likely foolish and/or dangerous.) "Uh, hi, Laura's audience. It's nice to be here," Lawrence said to the camera, though she kept getting distracted by looking over at Hollis, who herself seemed a bit smitten. Remembering the first video, Carmilla realized that this had to be the 'Danny' that Spielsdorf had mentioned... and remembered how swiftly Hollis had given in and gone to the party upon hearing that she would be there.

Whatever, she decided. As long as the two could stay on topic, she _probably_ wouldn't start gagging.

"Well, I wouldn't say that I have an audience yet. But it is nice to have you. Here. Have you here."

Probably.

"So, the town hall. We're all packed into the auditorium and the dean stands up, and holy crap, is she six feet of power suited, middle aged glamazon." Carmilla twitched, because that description sounded awfully familiar. Hollis, imitating the Dean, continued, "'It has come to the attention of the university that a certain individual or individuals are circulating rumours about students disappearing. Rest assured, if these disturbances do not cease, the perpetrators will be dealt with'."

Carmilla stabbed at the computer, pausing the video. "Well," she said after a few moments of shaking off her memories and gathering herself as best she could, "that's definitely Mother." She knew that particular intonation and cadence anywhere.

"Oh, good. I was hoping I'd get a chance to punch her in the face."

She laughed, even as she _knew_ it wouldn't be that easy. Still, Hellboy's comment was enough to let her unpause the video and continue watching.

Hollis seemed a little disturbed, herself, which was only natural after _any_ kind of encounter with Mother. "At which point, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get expelled, because nobody is saying anything - probably because they're afraid she's gonna suck their souls out through their eyeballs - but then Danny gets up and just..."

"No, it really wasn't that big of a deal," Lawrence demurred. When Hollis disagreed, she continued, "I simply wanted to point out that you shouldn't be calling a missing persons report rumour when one of our own members went missing at a rush party." Carmilla ignored the awkward flirting that followed, feeling generous for doing so. "You know, not that it meant much after the Zetas started in on that safety patrol crap."

In her best frat boy voice, Hollis quoted, "Uh, the obstreperous brothers of Zeta Omega Mu have decided that is uncool that hotties might feel unsafe going to parties or making their walks of shame at 4 AM, and as so have decided to personally protect any coed 7.5 or higher." And... okay, maybe the faces she kept making while she did so were a _little_ adorable.

"Think the boy even knew what that word meant?" She had no doubt that it was accurate, but it wasn't the good thing whoever had originally said it seemed to think it was. Unless they took pride in being noisy and difficult to control, of course. Sadly, with college boys, one couldn't rule that out.

"No."

"Which is just a faux chivalrous way of oppressing the female student body," Lawrence had been saying. "We should be reinstating our night marches."

"Uh, completely," Hollis agreed with a nervous laugh. "But when Danny and the Summer Society suggested that, the Alchemy Department started freaking out because apparently, that's gonna-" Here she broke into what was presumably an imitation of a member of said department. "-ruin some mycological transitions."

"They are such weird little creepers!"

"Not all of them," Bree objected from the background, politely reminding them that she'd formerly been sharing living space with one such person.

Hollis, clearly, hadn't forgotten about any of that. "She melted all your stuff!"

"...that was an accident." She paused. "Besides, she got all of hers, too, including all her notes, which she was _**not**_ happy about. So, you know, I can't be _too_ mad."

"I guess." Hollis turned back to the camera. "And then the Zetas piped in with this chant that pretty much sounded like 'pizza or death'."

"Though they refused to specify what _kind_ of pizza," Bree noted.

Lawrence laughed. "And then some idiot started throwing salted herring into the crowd."

Hollis couldn't help but laugh, too, even though she was obviously not happy about what came next. "And then, the dean ended the town hall before anybody could actually talk about anything! Ugh!" She was even less happy that Lawrence spotted a stray herring in her hair, which she promptly removed. "Ugh..." She laughed, mildly embarrassed. "Thanks. I thought I got them all out. The meeting may've sucked, but I'm really glad I ran into you."

"Blah, blah, blah... Flirt on your own time, Hollis," Carmilla grumbled. While it was nice to know their best lead had survived the near brush with the Dean, Hollis and Lawrence making eyes at each other was just wasting her time. She couldn't skip ahead, though, on the off chance she might miss something, especially with Bree still in the room - though the blonde looked like she was contemplating offering to leave so the two could be alone.

Lawrence proposed the two work together - evidently having correctly guessed from her earlier statement that Bree had no interest in helping with that - which Hollis was naturally all for, and left to go get her notes. That she even _had_ notes suggested that Hollis might not have been the only one investigating the missing girls, after all, which was also something they'd have to look into. If Hollis _did_ end up getting herself killed, they might still have additional sources of information on campus.

The dorky little happy dance she did after Danny left was simultaneously adorable and hilarious. Bree seemed to feel the same, judging by the smile she was trying - and failing - to hide. The video ended with a pair of guys that just screamed 'frat boy' to her showing up to be her 'dudescorts'.

Carmilla was about ready to start climbing the walls of the plane by the time they landed, nearly breaking the door in her haste to get it open and sprint for the waiting helicopter. "Have that thing refueled and ready to go by the time we get back!" she yelled to the ground crew as she ran past them - probably needlessly, since they no doubt already had orders to do precisely that - but she didn't care.

After seventy years, they finally had a real, solid lead. Even more, they _knew_ that Mother hadn't collected all five victims, yet. They actually had a _chance_ , this time.

She was _not_ going to let them waste it.

* * *

The BPRD's headquarters in Colorado had been an abandoned military research facility that, once upon a time, had housed Nazi scientists who defected to America after World War II. Despite their own... less than pleasant experiences with the Nazis, neither Carmilla nor Hellboy had ever felt any particular antipathy toward them. She had no idea who'd said it first, but a common saying among the Allied forces she'd come into contact was that the first country that the Nazis invaded was their own.

Of course, once the BPRD had moved in, any association the base had once had with German defectors quickly vanished, replaced by the far stranger - and far more interesting - research they engaged in.

Carmilla almost ran Kate over as she exited the helicopter mere seconds after it landed. "Tell me everyone's ready to go," she requested as she walked quickly enough toward the door into the base that Kate had to jog to keep up. "I just need a minute to grab my bag."

"It's going to take longer than that to get the plane ready for an intercontinental flight, and you know it," Kate said, dragging her to a stop. With her strength, she _could_ have just kept going, if she'd felt like it, but Kate had earned the right over the years to do something like that now and then. "Don't rush. Take your time, make sure you've got everything. We've been arranging to rent a house or two in Trofaiach for you all to stay at while-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Rent a- Why would we need to rent anything? We _know_ who's behind it! Let's just go kick in the Dean's door, beat her until she tells us where the girls are, and save them."

"It's not that simple," Kate told her, ignoring the glare she got in return. "We don't know anything about what it is that happens to the girls that leaves them, well, like Miss Spielsdorf. For all we know, simply taking them away from it could kill them. We need to run some tests, figure out exactly what we're dealing with. We also need to know more about what it is they're being sacrificed to, since chances are high that we'll have to deal with _that_ , too. That means research, which means time, which means having somewhere to stay while we work. If the Dean gets wind that we're coming before we can actually get there, God knows what she'll do to the girls - not to mention the rest of the student body - so we've been having to move quietly, not letting the Austrian government know what we're doing. Given that we've _never_ heard of this school before, odds are that the local government is in on things, so don't count on any help there, either."

"Yeah, the reaction Hollis got from the police made that kind of clear," Carmilla admitted.

"Exactly. More than that... Everything you've told us about her over the years says that winning a straight up fight with Lilith wouldn't be quite that easy. On the other hand, I doubt she wants to be _seen_ as being uncooperative. Silas may technically not be within our jurisdiction, but if it becomes clear that she's involved, the Austrian government would almost certainly give us permission to bring our full might to bear, probably offering to back us up, and she wouldn't want that, either. They may be too afraid to do anything about it themselves, but..." She cast a fond look at Hellboy. "Well, you've got a way of inspiring confidence and making things look less hopeless."

"Well, that's a lot of flattery." He sounded unmoved... and vaguely suspicious. "You're making us bring a psychic, aren't you?"

"Having someone who might be able to sense-"

"Come on, Kate, you _know_ I hate psychics..."

"Having someone who might be able to sense the girls, or what they're being sacrificed to, can only help," she said, ignoring his complaint. "Don't worry, I'll be keeping him out of your hair." Her gaze turned to Carmilla. "Or, _we_ will be, rather."

"Excuse me? I am _not_ going to sit this one out!"

"Neither am I," Kate replied smoothly. "I'm going with you. But since you don't want to let Lilith know you're around until you're ready, you're going to have to stay under the radar for a while."

"...This is because I threw the new guy into a wall, isn't it?"

"Oh, that reminds me, Agent Leach was just cleared by the doctors, and was happy to hear that he'd be able to accompany us."

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're kind of evil, Kate?"

She simply smiled and walked inside without comment.

"Well, sounds like you're in for a fun trip," Hellboy deadpanned as he walked past Carmilla.

"Just for that, I'm telling the psychic you _insisted_ he come along so he could assist you _personally_ ," she retorted.

Hellboy was no longer amused.

* * *

As it turned out, everyone _was_ packed and ready to move out once they got the go ahead, which was good. Still, once she was sure she had everything she was going to need and headed to the conference room to meet up with the others, Carmilla was pretty sure she spotted a problem where she absolutely couldn't have one being. As such, she promptly headed over to the couch where Liz was sitting and dropped down next to her. "Hey, Firecracker. Ready for this?"

Liz hesitated, which was never a good sign. "I... don't know," she admitted. "Are you?"

"Ready? Kid, I've been waiting for this ever since I got thrown in that coffin in 1872." She leaned closer and dropped her voice as she continued, "What do you think? I'm terrified."

Liz chuckled once. "I know the feeling."

"I've also never been more ready to head out on a mission. Just sitting around, you start thinking of all the ways it could go wrong." Exactly what Liz had been doing, she could tell. "Once you're there, though, doing the job... Things are different."

"Yeah... I'm just... I'm not sure that..."

"Liz." As always, Carmilla using Liz's actual name - she had a habit of calling people by whatever nickname she'd assigned them in her head most of the time - caught her attention. "Look. I know you're still spooked from the thing with the bat, but I need you on this. You're one of the few people I know that can not only handle any of Mother's minions, but stands a real chance of being able to take her out, too. I'll be there with you, if you need any help with your control, but you know that'll be easier if you're not already doubting yourself. You _can_ do this. You've done it before, lots of times."

Carmilla wasn't like Mother. She couldn't just reach into someone's head and rearrange things to suit her whims. (And the BPRD's research division had confirmed that such a thing _was_ possible, suspecting it had been her feelings for Elle that had first begun breaking through it.) Leaving post-hypnotic suggestions or erasing someone's memory were also in the realm of fantasy - which was unfortunate, as it would have made it much easier for her to go on missions without worrying that someone would say something that eventually made its way back to Mother - but she _could_ mesmerize someone. In the old days, it had made it _much_ easier to feed from her victims. In the here and now...

As she'd noted, she did have some minor pyrokinetic ability herself. Nothing like what Liz could do, but it more or less functioned the same, in terms of triggering and directing it. As such, she could basically imprint her own control onto Liz's mind. It never lasted long, but was usually enough to make it through the mission. Granted, none of those had been long-term assignments...

The BPRD higher ups worried, sometimes, that her essentially serving as a crutch might be stunting Liz's ability to gain real control on her own. She wasn't entirely sure they were wrong, which was why she'd been trying to let Liz stand on her own, most of the time, unless it was critical she gain control _immediately_. Just this once, though, she didn't care what they thought. Liz Sherman was vital to the success of this operation, as far as she was concerned, so her participation was non-negotiable.

"Right." Liz didn't sound overly convinced - though she rarely did - but she wasn't arguing. "Don't worry, I'll do my part." She paused. "When was the last time you were in Styria, anyway?"

Carmilla thought about that. "Early 1945, I think. We pushed up into Upper Austria, then into Germany, not long after the Army found me. Never had occasion to go back before now." She paused, then added, "Never really wanted to. Spent over seventy-two years in the ground, there. Was kind of sick of the place, after that." It had also been the last place she'd seen Elle.

Liz winced. "Yeah, I can get that."

Carmilla shook her head. "This'll be one hell of a homecoming, that's for sure."

It would also be one very, very overdue.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** So, work has been transitioning between the old owners and the new owners this past week, which has caused some... hiccups. Should be smoothed out by next week... I hope.

 

* * *

 

**Silas University, Trofaiach**

**Styria, Austria**

 

"Well, I suppose the plus side is that you apparently rank seven-point-five or higher on whatever 'hotness' scale they use," Bree murmured as she retrieved the stray herring one of the dudebros had spotted in Laura's hair.

"I can barely contain my glee," Laura muttered back. Once Bree had tossed the herring in the trash with its siblings - Laura had decided not to empty it until she were _sure_ she'd found all of them, which seemed to have been a good idea - and retreated to her bed, Laura turned to face their two 'guests'. "It is very, very nice of you large, large gentlemen to offer to keep us safe but, as you can see, here we are, in our room. Snug as a bug in a rug. So, you're good to go," she assured them.

One of them, who looked _vaguely_ familiar, replied, "Yeah, but what if you wanna go somewhere else?"

"I'm sure we'll think of something."

"Don't bring me into this," Bree objected. "They're both here for _you_. Because of your videos. God only knows who _else_ has been watching them."

"I'm more than willing to share."

The other, slightly more weaselly-looking one, spoke up. "You sure you wanna risk just going off without a plan? I mean, this campus isn't really safe for a girl alone at night."

"I don't think the lack of a Y chromosome will make much of a difference in how safe someone is," Bree said, rolling her eyes and opening a book, clearly done with the conversation.

"Well, we made a vow as Zetas," the first one told them. What _was_ his name? The two clenched a fist to their chests as he proclaimed, "'If there's a hottie, we'll be on her'."

"Sounds chivalrous," Laura deadpanned.

Her sarcasm seemed to go completely undetected. "Totally."

She was aware of her camera still recording - she'd even gotten a tiny bit of editing done while Bree had been searching her hair - and just wanted the two 'bros' to leave so she could get back to something actually important. "Okay, how about this? If I decide to go wandering down some dark alleyways late at night, you guys'll be my first call."

"Really?"

"Sure."

They weren't leaving. Why weren't they leaving? "Great. But maybe we should just stick around. You know, just for a little bit. Wouldn't wanna let a hottie down."

She twitched. "Okay, please stop saying hottie. My name is Laura."

"I know. You're in my Lit class! You helped me the first day with the book about about the Beobab guy... You know..."

Oh, right, _that_ was where she'd seen him before. What was his name? It started with a 'K', she thought... "Beowulf?"

Oh, good grief, he was making himself at home, wasn't he? Just... plopping his bag down on her bed and rooting around in it. "Whatever. That's why I picked you special. We can, uh, just stick around here for a bit. And seeing as you like British stuff so much, I brought stout." He held up a can, seemingly for proof. "And uh, some tea." The stout was tucked back in the bag, replaced with a box of tea that, well, she would admit she didn't hate. Not that he actually gave her a chance to say anything, putting it back and pulling out something else. "And, uh, these biscuit things, which I'm pretty sure are just cookies. And oh, hey, Will could go get us a two-four..."

"...a what?"

"You're going to go all the way to _Canada_ for beer?" Bree asked, briefly glancing up from her book to raise an eyebrow at the recently identified Will. "Now that's dedication."

"Funny." Apparently, one of them _did_ know how sarcasm worked.

"And there's even a movie about the Beobab guy." What _was_ his name? Kaiser? No. Kalan? No, definitely not. Kirsch! Yeah, that was it. Somebody Kirsch. "Uh, but in this one he gets it on with the chick from Tomb Raider."

Bree inhaled deeply, letting it out slowly through her mouth. "William," she began in a disconcertingly calm voice as she saved her place in whatever it was she was reading with a bookmark, then set the book aside. "My patience with this nonsense is wearing thin."

He was subtle about it, but given that she was looking right at him, Laura couldn't quite miss the sudden wariness in his posture. "Yeah, well-"

She swiveled on the bed, swung her legs out to plant her feet on the floor, and swiftly stood up. Laura didn't know her that well, but the precise, overly-controlled way she was moving suggested she hadn't been kidding about how near of a thing her hold on her temper really was. The sudden, reflexive step Will took away from her backed that up - and suggested the two already knew each other, to some degree. Laura had no idea how... and realized, to her chagrin, that she didn't really know all that much about Bree, despite living with her for over a week. Not even her last name. She hadn't even bothered asking, and she couldn't help but feel bad about that. "She's been far nicer than she really needs to about this, but Laura has made it quite clear that your services are not required. So. You have five seconds to leave this room under your own power, or you will be removed." Her voice never wavered from the calm, controlled tone she'd started with, but her eyes had narrowed, just a little.

Even Kirsch was picking up on the tension in the room, though he didn't quite seem to be taking it seriously. "Whoa, angry hottie." At Laura's sudden, annoyed glare, he corrected, "Angry... sexy lady."

"Four."

Will was eyeing Bree warily, still. "Why don't I just leave our number-?"

"Three."

"I'm sure the Zeta House is in the Campus Directory," Laura replied.

"Two."

"Oh, it'll just take a sec to write down my cell number," Kirsch assured her.

"One."

"You can give it to me in class, if you have to," Laura told him hurriedly. She wasn't sure what was about to happen, but if Bree started a fight, she supposed _she'd_ be honorbound to back her roomie up.

'Zero' came and went, and the two hadn't moved. Bree shook her head. "Fine," she snapped, then strode forward and twisted Kirch's arm behind his back with seemingly no effort.

"Whoa, wha- ow, _ow_ , _**ow**_!" he exclaimed, surprised.

"No means 'no', Mister Kirsch," Bree told him flatly, then planted her other hand on his back - making Laura realize she was actually immobilizing him with just _one hand_ \- and somehow _threw him_ out the door. He briefly sailed through the air before crashing loudly - and painfully - into the wall. Will edged carefully around her to hurry and check on him - though, for a split second, Laura could have sworn he looked more annoyed than concerned - and Bree shut and locked the door behind them.

"What was...? How did you...?" Laura asked, gesturing vaguely toward the door.

"I work out," Bree said with a little shrug as she dropped back onto her bed and picked her book back up. "Also, never underestimate the advantage of surprise, or leverage." She smiled, adding, "I know, I look like a stray breeze could knock me over, right?"

"I wouldn't say _that_..."

"Of course _you_ wouldn't. You're nice." She reopened her book.

"Well... Thank you for getting rid of them, I guess." Laura paused, then decided to fill in some of the blanks on her new roommate. "What is that you're reading, anyway?"

"Something for one of my classes," Bree held up the book so she could see the cover.

"'Anthology of World Scriptures, Eighth Edition'?" Her eyebrows rose in surprise.

"It's for my Intro to World Religions class," Bree explained. Then, guessing the next logical question, added, "I'm majoring in Religious Studies."

"Huh." Laura wasn't quite sure what to say to that. "You're the first person I've met here who is."

"Or at least the first one willing to admit it," Bree countered, a slight smile playing at her lips. "I'm quite aware that it isn't one of the 'cool' or 'sexy' majors, but it's important to me." She tugged at a thin chain around her neck, and for the first time Laura realized she was wearing a simple silver cross. Actually, aside from whatever clothes she 'borrowed' from Betty, "simple" would describe much of her wardrobe. Bree tended to wear T-shirts - most of them clearly purchased from the school's Student Union, suggesting much her own clothing had been among her destroyed possessions from her former roommate's "accident" - and jeans most of the time, and the only shoes she had were a pair of black sneakers and a set of hiking boots. (Betty's shoes didn't fit her.) Even Laura had more than that, but Bree never seemed to mind.

Her choice of major shed some light as to why that might be.

"Why major in something if it doesn't mean something to you?" Laura agreed with a shrug. "That's why I'm taking journalism." Criminal Justice had been a close second, and she planned to take some electives that focused on that. However, _that_ wasn't something she planned on explaining until she knew Bree a _lot_ better than she did. Even Betty didn't know about that.

"I'd ask if you were going for text or broadcast, but I think the videos kind of make that perfectly clear."

"Heh. Yeah. I was worried that web-based journalism was too new of a thing to be an option at this school." There were always whispers about Silas going on in town - never more than that, at least until her videos - but she'd gotten the impression of a school distinctly behind the times, at least in some areas. "I was glad to find I was wrong." It occurred to her that she was _still_ recording, but turning away to work on her computer seemed kind of rude. Besides, she _wanted_ to record this, even if it had nothing to do with her investigation - she felt like Bree deserved to have some focus, even if she was actively trying to stay out of the way - and her computer wasn't quite powerful enough to do that and edit at the same time. "Will the school give Betty - and that missing Summer that Danny mentioned - some way of making up the work they've missed, once we find them? I mean, it's genuinely not their fault that they haven't been in class, or handing in work."

Bree considered that. "I should think so," she said finally. "They're not _that_ unreasonable. Who knows? Maybe Danny won't mind a roommate, if that happens. I think she lives off-campus."

Laura blinked, then winced. She'd gotten so caught up in her line of thought that she'd forgotten there were only two beds in the room. "I'm not saying that..."

"It's fine," Bree said when she didn't continue her sentence. "I know I'm just The Replacement. I'm not really allowed to forget that."

Laura winced again, more visibly. "It's not... Don't get me wrong, I _like_ having you here," she assured her. "If you'd been assigned here first, there wouldn't be a problem. But I can't just let Betty stay missing, possibly kidnapped, if I can do something about it."

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing your grade on your project won't depend on the final outcome of the investigation."

Laura gave her an odd look. "What does _that_ mean?"

Bree hesitated, then sighed and set her book down again. "Okay, look. I'm gonna say something I know you're not going to want to hear. I know you're all excited to be working with Danny on this, and I'd never say you _couldn't_ figure out what happened to Betty and the others, but you need to accept the possibility that you won't find her. She may not even still be alive. I'm not saying this to be cruel, I just don't want to see you wind up crushed if you can't get her back. Try your best, certainly, but be realistic while you're doing it."

Laura hesitated for a long moment. "I know," she finally admitted quietly. "I mean, from the minute I found that card, I knew she might not be coming back. Because... Well, sometimes, people don't." Which was something _else_ she wasn't going into detail about anytime soon. "But until someone finds a body, I have every reason to believe she's still alive. Moreover, I'm not going to be able to rest until I _know_ , one way or another, what happened to her."

"You may want to be more careful, though. Whether LaFontaine can help you post your videos so that they won't immediately trigger another security response or not, they'll still be perfectly visible to anyone that knows to look for them, won't they? You really think the Dean won't have someone watching? If she catches you at this again... Well, let's just say you won't be helping Betty or anyone else once they start your Tribunal."

"My what?" Her computer started chiming.

"...you never actually _read_ the Student Handbook, did you?"

"That thing's the size of, like, all the Harry Potter books combined. I've been using it as a doorstop." The chiming was becoming more frequent, and more insistent.

"Yeah, well, you may wanna _try_ slogging your way through it before you provoke the Dean again. That, or cool it with the videos." She paused. "Honestly, do you even have enough viewers to make it be anywhere near worth the risk?"

Laura opened her mouth to answer, but the chiming coming from her computer reached a fever pitch, and she finally turned back to look at it. "What is that?" she asked absently as she minimized her editing program... then froze, needing a moment to fully process what she was seeing. "Uh... yeah, I don't think lack of viewers is gonna be a problem."

 

* * *

 

"A vampire majoring in Religious Studies?" Liz asked as she leaned over to watch the Hollis girl's latest posted video. "Is that the undead version of studying toxicology, or something?"

"That's what she _says_ she's taking, anyway," Carmilla replied, unconvinced. They were several hours into their flight, currently somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, and the only update they had was a single new video popping up. Looking at it logically - and she was making herself do so, if only to _try_ and keep her wits about her - she couldn't be _too_ hard on the researchers. It was rather hard to turn up new information when nothing else had changed, and she knew Mother had _centuries_ of experience in concealing things. It was kind of nice, though, to know that she wasn't the only one whose life was being made harder by the rapid advancement of technology, not to mention the whole 'social media' thing. "Though I guess if you keep having to attend the same college over and over, you'd want some variety in your courses."

"You think she makes them go all four years? Or just one? Or maybe just part of one?"

"Hard to say. A full four years might be less suspicious, but the longer they're there, the more people would remember them. Besides, if they don't stay the whole time, there'd be that many more open slots for paying students." They'd all seen the new video, but Liz was the only one sitting near her that was brave enough to engage her in conversation about it. Hellboy and Abe would have, but they - along with Kate - were stuck near the back of the (somewhat crowded) cabin, along with Hellboy's _favorite_ person ever, Russell Thorne, BPRD consultant and psychic extraordinaire.

She was expecting him to get up and 'suggest' to Agent Leach that they should switch seats any time, now. Honestly, she was kind of impressed that he'd lasted as long as he had.

She was also pretty sure that Kate - or possibly Professor Bruttenholm - had explained to Leach exactly _why_ she was so wound up about this mission, because he'd been a bit _too_ understanding when she, at Liz's prompting, had apologized again for pitching him into the wall.

Whatever. The less problems she had to deal with, the better.

"And the cross?" Liz prompted.

"If it isn't blessed, it's just a piece of metal. Clever of her, really, if someone starts picking up on the whole vampire thing." She shook her head. "She's not playing this the way I would have. The whole sympathetic bystander thing? Concerned, but mostly staying out of it? Good for avoiding suspicion, maybe, but in terms of reeling Hollis in, it leaves a lot to be desired." She allowed herself a self-deprecating, only slightly bitter smile. "Though the way I did it got me locked in a coffin for seventy-two years, so I can see why Mother might have her going an alternate route." Though a much less fun one. Though maybe this 'Bree' simply didn't swing that way.

"Should we warn her?" At Carmilla's odd look, Liz clarified, "Laura, I mean. Should we warn her about Bree?"

She shook her head. "I'd like to, but we couldn't prove anything. And with no proof, we just come off as some random internet cranks, and Hollis stops listening to anything we have to say. No, I think she'll survive until we can get there and talk to her in person." She raised her voice, adding, "Assuming we're allowed to do that. Kate."

"Don't worry, talking to Miss Hollis is one of the first things on the 'To Do' list," Kate assured her. If she was at all amused, she wisely kept it to herself. Carmilla was in no mood for even friendly teasing about her possibly displaying any concern for the Hollis girl.

"Great," she muttered. Conversation pretty much died out after that, there being precious little to say. Carmilla did her best to just sit still and not fidget for a few minutes, then gave up on that and turned back to the laptop still open in front of her. Based on her previous release schedule, it would be a while before Hollis uploaded a new video - and there was no guarantee that something worth filming would happen before they arrived in Austria, even with the brief stopover in Britain to refuel - which meant that, if she wanted to know more, she was going to have to do something she didn't enjoy: interact with a total stranger. (Or near total, anyway, but Hollis hadn't exactly given enough away on her videos about herself for Carmilla to feel like she knew her at all.) A bit of research, first, perhaps?

She might not be able to find out anything new about the situation from official sources, but she _did_ remember the Twitter handle she'd seen in the first video. She didn't have an account herself, but fortunately, she didn't need to in order to read someone else's tweets. There didn't seem to be anything before she'd arrived at Silas - Spielsdorf's comment about the 'hamster ball' Hollis had been living in came back to her, making her wonder just what the Hollis girl's home life was like - and most of what _was_ there consisted of either irrelevant nonsense or things they already knew. One new thing was that Hollis felt guilty about having made so little effort to get to know her new roommate that she didn't even know Bree's last name, and about having accidentally made her feel like nothing but a replacement.

Bree was good, Carmilla had to give her that.

Okay, that pretty much matched up with what they'd seen in the video, along with the tweet about her surprise at how many responses she was getting. That meant everything after was new information, which meant she _should_ care about it, no matter how trivial it seemed to her.

_Got an A- on my lit quiz! Whew. (We don't get them back 'til tomorrow, but Danny might have let something slip. Shhhh.)_

_Not bad for zero actual studying. #notsohumblebrag_

_The minus is because I screwed up the Chaucer section: I really don't believe The Summoner's Tale was about thaumaturgy._

_And no one is convincing me that "The Kraken's Tale" is something Chaucer actually wrote._

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. How, exactly, were the teachers at Silas getting away with that? Their students _would_ eventually return to the regular world, and if they started telling people about the differences between what they'd been taught in college and what everyone else said about those books...? They were trying _not_ to catch anyone's attention, weren't they? And... wait.

Was that _Kate_ replying to one of Hollis's tweets?

Well... Maybe that was okay. Professor Kate Corrigan _was_ known for her interest in the occult, and this was the sort of thing that might have caught her attention even before she'd hooked up with the BPRD. As long as she didn't mention the agency itself before they actually arrived in Styria, there shouldn't be a problem.

Besides, she somehow doubted Mother even knew what Twitter _was_.

Still, it was becoming clear that she wasn't going to learn anything she really wanted to know unless she actually interacted with Hollis herself. Which meant giving in and finally making an account. Well, the BPRD had fashioned her with a fake identity for the duration of the mission: Carmen Grant (in case anyone slipped up and called her 'Carm' where someone else could hear), from Fairfield, Conneticut. (Why Fairfield, she had no idea.) And maybe Carmen was the kind of person who might use Twitter, if only as the result of constant nagging from her friends.

It took about ten minutes to finish making up an account, with a steady stream of helpful - as well as "helpful" - comments from Liz, then began tweeting a fake story about backpacking around Europe, trying to keep it as normal-sounding as she could, before arriving in Austria. It took some effort to figure out a plausible reason why she might have stumbled across the videos, given that "Carmen" had never heard of Silas University, and had no idea if anyone might have been discussing it in at internet cafe, or coffee shop, or some such thing. Eventually, she decided on saying that an unnamed friend, who enjoyed investigating weird things like that, had directed her to them. Carmen was skeptical, but curious, not sure if Hollis was presenting a genuine document of a missing persons investigation, or was making her own dramatic web series.

Hollis took the bait.

It was almost forty minutes before she replied, saying that she could understand why someone who'd never been to Silas would be asking, but it was definitely real... then added that, unless she did visit the campus in the future, "Carmen" was just going to have to take her word for it, wasn't she?

"What time is it in Styria right now, anyway?" she mused quietly as she composed a reply. She knew they were about eight hours ahead of Colorado, but since she wasn't sure what time it was back home, that didn't help her, much.

_You inviting me up for a visit, Cutie?_

There was a slight delay before she got a reply, and she imagined Hollis had been somewhat flustered by the message's flirtatious tone. _They don't really allow people to just randomly walk onto campus; I don't recommend that you try._

"I think it's about... six AM, tomorrow morning," Liz said after a moment's thought. Unlike Carmilla, she actually tended to keep track of the time. "Wonder how long she's been up?"

"I think this girl gets by on sugar alone." _Shame. You look like you could use a good distraction._

Liz smiled, but declined to comment either about what she'd said, or what she'd written.

_You sound like Bree. But how can I relax and have fun when Betty's missing, or...?_

_Winding yourself up so tightly you snap won't help her either, Cupcake._

_Maybe. Right now, though, I'm off to my Lit Class lecture. Wish me luck!_

_Oh, I'm sure your TA would be happy to help you get lucky. But good luck with your 'dudescort' stalker._

_*lol* And thanks... I'll need it._

"Aw... Keep this up, you might actually make a _friend_ ," Liz cooed sweetly, utterly unfazed by the glare she got in return.

Carmilla shook her head. Honestly, she was only doing this because she was incredibly bored, and wanted as much information about the situation they were flying into as she could get.

She wasn't about to start _caring_ about Laura Hollis.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

* * *

It wasn't until they were on the ground in England - a Royal Air Force base in Gloucestershire, RAF Fairford - refueling that anything new came up. While Carmilla, like everyone else, certainly appreciated the chance to stretch her legs and get some fresh air - to say nothing of getting some personal space, after being cooped up with so many people for so long with no escape - she refused to wander far from the plane. It was a military base, so it wasn't like there was any sightseeing to be done, in any event.

Liz had helpfully pointed out that she could just download the Twitter app for her smartphone. Seeing as carrying around a laptop would have been rather awkward, and she didn't want to potentially miss any updates, she'd bitten the bullet and, as Liz put it, 'finally joined them in the 21st Century'.

Carmilla was pretty sure this was subtle payback on Liz's part for insisting she come along.

She was leaning against the side of one of the buildings near their airstrip, obsessively swiping at her phone's screen to refresh the Twitter feed, when something new _finally_ popped up. It had been hours since her brief correspondence with Hollis, hours in which she had _no idea_ what was going on at Silas University. She'd been debating seeing if any of Hollis's friends also had accounts, but didn't know enough about them to find out.

_Spent my Lit Class Lecture explaining Le Morte D'Arthur to Kirsch. His takeaway? "Cool. Chivalry. Bros were like old-timey Zetas."_

_It took me three *hours* to lose him after class. What he lacks in IQ he makes up for in sheer bloodyminded persistence._

_Maybe I can get Bree to "accidentally" throw him into another wall._

Carmilla had to smile at that. Evidently, even young Miss Hollis had her limits. Somewhat less amusing was the fact that one of the replies to that tweet seemed to come from Bree herself, stating that if Kirsch didn't start behaving himself, it was entirely possible. Knowing that Bree was reading Laura's Twitter feed as well meant that, if only in an indirect fashion, Mother _was_ aware of it, so Carmilla would need to be careful with what she said.

She'd made a few additional tweets herself in the interim, further establishing "Carmen" and her trip. Carmen had been heading more or less in Trofaiach's direction, and the ongoing events at Silas had peaked her curiosity, so she might swing through town, just to see what was going on. Partly that had been done in case she actually needed to speak with someone involved - such as Hollis - herself, rather than just letting Hellboy or one of the others handle it. Another reason was the hope, however much of a long shot it might be, that doing so would catch the attention of Mother's people, and they might decide she'd make a good fifth sacrifice - Carmen made it clear she had no set itinerary, so if she was taken, it would be a while before anyone even noticed, and they'd have no idea where to start looking. She hoped they took the bait; it would simplify things tremendously to have someone to interrogate that could lead them right to the missing girls. (To say nothing of having someone else to hit.)

The only person they currently knew of who might fit that description was Bree, and she hung around Hollis and her camera enough to make grabbing her a questionable proposition. Besides, if she was being controlled by Mother the same way Carmilla herself had been...

The BPRD could _try_ and help her break free of it, but that wasn't guaranteed to work, and the safety of the girls - and stopping Mother once and for all - took precedence.

Still, she made a mental note to keep an eye on Bree's Twitter account, too. She hadn't 'followed' anyone, since Carmen would have no reason to, but she could have multiple tabs open on her laptop's browser. Bree's tweets started about a year ago, mostly interactions with other people, very little being mentioned about her own life. She talked to church groups and local clergy, posted religious and inspirational quotes... Clearly, she'd been building up the innocent, religious "good girl" image for some time, now. That suggested lots of patience, which had always been something Mother advocated above all else.

She also seemed to have a love of cat videos. That was something - though she would never, _ever_ admit it - that Carmilla could understand.

Going back to Hollis's account, she saw that she'd missed a tweet while reading up on her roommate... and grimaced upon reading it. "Oh, hell..."

"What?" Seriously? Was the new guy a glutton for punishment, or something? At her sudden, sharp look, he shifted his weight nervously, but, to his credit, stayed put. "What's wrong?"

She debated going back to ignoring him - she hadn't been blind to his tentatively making his way over to her, she just hadn't seen a reason to care - but... No. She _had_ promised the higher-ups she'd at least _try_ to be more of a team player for this mission. "That Natalie girl is evidently displaying symptoms, to the point where Hollis is picking up on it."

"Well, that's good!" Leach studied her expression. "That's not good?"

"The more she picks up on what's going on, the more danger she's in," Carmilla said flatly. "If Mother believes she's actually at risk of exposing something, she's a dead girl."

"Well, we'll be there soon, right? I doubt the Dean will be paying much attention to her when she has a much bigger, redder problem to deal with."

"Here's hoping." It wasn't that she had anything against Leach, exactly, but this was probably the worst possible time to try and make nice with her. Until the mission was over, she was going to be wound tighter than a box spring, and she knew it. Presumably, he must have had some idea about that, too, because when she went back to her phone and ignored him again, he didn't try and push the issue.

Hollis and Bree were exchanging tweets. Evidently, Lawrence was going to be meeting Hollis in their room to continue their investigation, and Bree wanted to know if the two of them would like to be alone. Hollis assured her that they weren't going to kick her out of her own room.

_@Laura2theLetter  So, you want me to stick around to keep things PG?_

_@AveAtqueVale  I wouldn't have said that. But... yeah, kinda._

_@Laura2theLetter  It's been a while since the abbey, but I think I can manage that._

_@AveAtqueVale  What abbey?_

There was a rather lengthy pause before the reply came.

_@Laura2theLetter  I don't wanna talk about it right now. Possibly ever._

Well... _that_ was interesting.

Hollis made a few more attempts at talking to Bree, but her roommate had stopped replying. Either thinking about whatever abbey she'd meant had really upset her, or she wanted Hollis to _think_ it had. Neither option seemed like it would end well.

The plane was almost done being refueled and resupplied. Given that she had a little more time to kill, Carmilla decided 'what the hell?' and sent Hollis another tweet:  _Things okay with your roommate, Cutie?_

The reply came quickly enough to tell her that Hollis wanted to talk to _someone_ about it, even a complete stranger.  _I don't know. I hope so. I wanna get to know her better, but she's NOT making it easy..._

_@Laura2theLetter Did you ever find out her last name?_

_@CarmGranted Yeah, I managed THAT, at least: Vale._

_@Laura2theLetter  Thus her... *interesting* choice of user names?_

_@CarmGranted  I guess so. Maybe she needed to use *something*, so..._

_@Laura2theLetter  So she went with 'Hail and Farewell'? Kinda morbid. Unless she's ex-military?_

_@CarmGranted  Not that I know of. Huh. Most of my classmates wouldn't have known that._

Oops. Carmilla grimaced. She'd gotten a bit caught up in the exchange, forgetting knowing Latin wasn't a skill most people Hollis's age had. _@Laura2theLetter  Your classmates don't know how to use Google? That's bad. Explains your 'dudescorts', though._

_@CarmGranted  *LOL* Not what I meant, but thank you, whoever you are. I needed that._

_@Laura2theLetter  Anytime, Cute Stuff._

_@CarmGranted  You know, it's not really fair that you've seen me, but I have no idea who or what you are._

Carmilla presumed the 'or what' part of that meant Hollis had no way of knowing what gender she was - or if she was really just one person - rather than what species she was. The girl hadn't been at Silas for _that_ long, and still didn't seem to know vampires even existed. Still, it was good, if only for her own sake, that she didn't seem to be as naive as she'd originally come across as. @ _Laura2theLetter  Well, if I do end up swinging through town, I'll take you out for hot chocolate, and fix that._

_@CarmGranted  Tempting me with chocolate? You're bad._

_@Laura2theLetter  Only for the right people._

_@CarmGranted  ^_^_

Kate tapped her on the shoulder. "We're just about ready to go."

"Finally," Carmilla replied, putting her phone away. Kate was still standing there, looking at her. "What?"

"Are you seriously _flirting_ with our best lead?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Hollis was cute enough, sure - she'd agree with the Zetas about that much, at least - but after all this time, there was no way she was going to jeopardize her chance to take her mother down just for a bit of collegiate fluff.

"You're only bad 'for the right people'?" Kate quoted.

"Well, it's true," Carmilla defended with a shrug. She allowed herself a smirk as she turned to head for the plane, adding, "For everyone else, I'm _a nightmare_."

Kate snorted in amusement... and didn't argue.

* * *

Laura had really hoped to get a chance to talk to Bree before the investigating started, but Danny had already been in their room setting up by the time she got there, and she knew wasn't likely to open up about anything if they had company. Ordinarily, that - or her camera being on - wouldn't have stopped Laura from trying, but just this once...

Well, just this once, she'd let it go for now. Maybe that would give Bree more time to calm down, if she needed it.

"I can barely believe this," she said once her camera was running. "I mean, when I put the videos up I thought there might be a few of you who had seen the weird and wanted to help, but the fact that there are so many of you... I mean... I'm overwhelmed. We're gonna figure this out. And, of course, when I say 'we', I mean-" She turned to reveal Danny, writing on a chart. "Danny and I!" Adding little dramatic touches and flourishes like that probably wasn't necessary, but she couldn't help it. Besides, if it helped her journalism project stand out a little more, that might help come grading time.

Unless she totally bombed the investigation, of course.

No! No thinking like that. They could do this. They could _so_ totally do this. "We have been working nonstop and, not that we're geniuses or anything, but I think we're really close to a breakthrough."

"Keep working nonstop, you'll be close to a break _down_ ," Bree added as she worked on her homework for her Introduction to Statistics class. That she was taking that sort of class - and evidently doing fairly well, given how quickly she was mowing through her work - just made Laura wish she'd help them all the more.

"Be that as it may..." Laura turned to look at Danny, who knew a cue when she saw one.

"Right. As far as we know, we have four missing girls." She tapped all four of the stick figures she'd drawn at the top of the flow chart she'd made. "All have disappeared at parties. Two have reappeared. And both with no memory of what happened."

"Exactly. But all the disappearances aren't all the same, either. Sarah Jane and Natalie were having those super creepy dreams and we don't know if Betty or..." Laura realized, to her chagrin, that she didn't even know the name of the girl who'd prompted Danny to get involved in this. Between that and needing to ask for even basic information about Bree, she was starting to feel guilty for not paying enough attention to the people around her.

Danny didn't seem to find it at all odd that she needed to ask, at least. "Elsie."

"... or Elsie were having them, and nobody else got a weird card or an elbow full of proto-shiitake goop," she finished.

Danny laughed. "I wish I'd gotten to see that."

"You really don't, actually," Laura assured her. "So, can we think of anything else that the girls or the parties have in common?"

What followed was a lot of... nothing, really. Oh, the two of them went over every list, examined every piece of information they had, tried over and over to see how it could fit together to paint a picture that explained, well, anything. (Bree, meanwhile, continued working on her classwork, so at least one of them was sure to have a solid academic future.)

Nothing. It was like they had the pieces to two or three different puzzles, and were trying to fit them all together to form one image. She was going to start slamming her head into a desk if this kept up much longer.

Off-topic, she decided she was _so_ going to edit all this into a montage when she was working on the video later.

Finally, seated at her desk, she decided she just couldn't take anymore. "I think my brain has melted."

"It's okay," Danny assured her from where she'd been taking her own mini-break, sitting on Laura's bed. "We'll get you some carbs, some caffeine, you know, come at it fresh–"

Laura's eyes widened as she realized something, and she dashed for the mini-fridge in the corner. "Ooooh! Oh my gosh, I am a terrible host!" She began gathering up whatever was in front of her as she continued. "I haven't even offered you anything to drink, or a snack. Would you like a snack?" She shut the door and walked back to the middle of the room, near the chart. "I have... peanut butter, grape soda, snack cakes." _God, I am such a failure._

"Oh, my God," Danny said, incredulous. "How are you even alive right now? You know all that stuff is filled with polysyllabic chemicals."

"I don't think the peanut butter's that bad," Laura objected, though her heart wasn't really in it. "As for the rest... Yeah. I know. But, you know, it's also really delicious. And chocolate is comforting in the face of epic failure."

"It's not epic failure!"

"We have been at this for ages, and there is just nothing." She couldn't help but feel disheartened.

"Hey... Not nothing!" Danny stood up. "Okay, look at this. Okay, all four girls go missing at parties, right?" She gestured at the chart with her marker as she spoke. "The under the sea swim team party, the Summer Society rush party, the north quad mixer, the psychology wine and cheese..."

"All different events, planned by different groups..." Laura pointed out.

"Yeah, but look at the party gear! Okay, at the... uh, at the swim team party, small drink cauldron of Fizzy Dagons." Laura headed over to her desk to set down her snacks and start writing down any insights Danny might be having. It took a moment for her to notice somewhat ominous humming and singing quietly beginning in the background. "At the wine and cheese, a three foot volcanic replica with melted brie. At the Summer Society, bioluminescent candy bugs. And at the north quad mixer..."

"Party fog." That had been kind of cool, she had to admit.

"All provided courtesy of..." The music was getting louder and louder.

"The Alchemy Department." The music reached a point where it was impossible to ignore. "Wow, the glee club is really giving her, huh?"

What was it they said? 'Silas University Glee Club: Join Now, Sing Forever'

Bree abruptly slammed her book shut, stood up, and stalked over to the window, throwing it open. "Hey!" she shouted, picking up a cooler she'd had sitting on the floor nearby. Laura had seen it before, but hadn't thought much of it. (Goodness knew she had a few things that tended to be stored on the floor since there just wasn't any space to keep them anywhere else.) "You people have an auditorium _and_ a theater building! Stop practicing under our window!" That said, she opened up the cooler and began pelting the Glee Club with water balloons from within it until they stopped and, presumably, moved along.

Laura almost restrained her laughter. "Why do you have a cooler filled with water balloons?"

"Because the administration frowns on me using Molotov cocktails," Bree deadpanned, shutting the window and heading more leisurely back toward her bed.

"So they care at least _somewhat_ about the student body?"

"Or property damage."

Depressingly, that was probably the more likely answer. "Anyway, you think someone from the alchemy club is taking girls?" Laura asked Danny, getting the conversation back on course.

"It's thin," Danny admitted. "But it is a place to start... Watson."

"You know," Bree interjected. "Having formerly shared living space with a member of the Alchemy Club, I _did_ encounter some of her fellow lab rats now and then. Pretty sure most of them couldn't carry off a Twizzler."

"That's a fair point," Laura admitted. "Maybe we should talk to Sarah Jane and Natalie again, see if anything jogs their memory..."

"I think they're in class right now - or Sarah Jane is, anyway," Danny said. "Not sure about Natalie. I'll text her, ask her to come over."

"Speaking of class," Bree said as Danny got out her phone, "I have to get to one. Good luck with your interviews, and try not to freak her out again."

"I wasn't trying to the first time!" Laura objected. "And... I thought you didn't have any afternoon classes today." She'd never really been _alone_ with Danny, and the prospect was making her excited and nervous and agitated and... Well, she'd just like it if Bree could stay, was all.

Bree raised an eyebrow. "I don't. I have an _evening_ one. It's seven PM, Laura."

It was? She snuck a quick look at her computer's clock. It was actually 7:09. She didn't have any other classes, at least, but she hadn't realized they'd been working on this for _that_ long. No wonder she was starting to get hungry.

Bree picked up her bag and patted Laura on the shoulder. "Have fun," she said quietly into her ear, then headed out the door, an amused smile on her face.

"Okay, Natalie's on the way over," Danny said as the door swung shut behind Bree. "Her text was a bit more... excited... than I'd thought it would be, given, well, everything."

"Okay." She shut off her camera - she was probably going to edit out everything she mentioned reinterviewing Sarah Jane and Natalie; no need to make extra work for herself. "How do you think we should approach this?" Because Bree hadn't been wrong in saying that they might need to be careful with Natalie, given how fragile she'd been the last time.

"We'll think of something." Danny sat down on the chair next to hers, fixing her with an intent look.

"What?" Laura asked, confused. "What's-"

Danny kissed her.

For a long moment, she froze. Danny was kissing her. She'd imagined this more than once since the two had first met, but hadn't really expected it to happen, even if she _had_ been getting a vibe that Danny might just like her, too. What was she supposed to do, now?

 _Kiss her back, you idiot!_ her body shouted at her. Just this once, her brain decided, her body had a _great_ idea. Her arms went around Danny's neck, and she found that once she began returning it, what had been a good kiss suddenly became an _amazing_ one.

"Oh, wow..." she whispered once she'd needed to pull back to try and get some air into her lungs. Her entire body felt like it was vibrating.

"I've been wanting to do that for _days_ , now," Danny breathed.

"Me, too," Laura admitted. "Um... When exactly will Natalie be getting here?"

"Probably not for about fifteen or twenty minutes," Danny said, a wicked little smile tugging at her lips, and Laura realized she might be in a lot of trouble.

Strangely, she was more than fine with that.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** Two things. First, I apologize about the delay on this chapter - I've been having some issues with my internet connection. Secondly, I know there's been some disconnect between the events at Silas, and the activities of the BPRD crew. Laura and the gang have actually been a bit ahead of them, but all of their time skips (Laura's 18-hour workday being one example) mean that they're just about caught up with each other, now. Or, more simply put, now that they're all in the same place, hopefully that won't be an issue, anymore. Just didn't want anyone to think I hadn't noticed it. :)

* * *

Attempting to reinterview Natalie had not gone terribly well. She showed up about fifteen minutes after when she said she'd be there - which Laura was actually perfectly fine with, since it meant that much more time making out with Danny - and when she got there...?

Well, that Laura was _not_ perfectly fine with.

Natalie had, somehow, turned into a mindless party animal.

It really didn't make any sense at all. Admittedly, Laura had only met her once, and Natalie had been rather stressed out at the time due to reliving her ordeal. But asking around made it clear that 'party girl' was _not_ her normal default mode. (She also hadn't liked Natalie flirtatiously trying to get Danny to go table dancing with her, grinding up against her... That she was so weirded out by Natalie's abrupt change in behavior was the only reason she hadn't gotten upset about it.)

The next morning brought even more weirdness with it. Whatever was wrong with Natalie? It had gotten Sarah Jane, too. If Laura had needed any more evidence than her sudden and bizarre wardrobe change or her giggly, vapid attitude, the fact that Sarah Jane had decided to date Kirsch would certainly be enough to tell her something was _very_ wrong. (It wasn't that she didn't _at all_ like the big lug, but he and Sarah Jane were about as different from each other as you could get while still being the same species, normally.) It must have been freaking Bree out, too, since she decided to be elsewhere when Laura invited Natalie and Sarah Jane over that morning - or maybe she didn't trust herself not to react violently toward Will and Kirsch, who'd accompanied them. (Admittedly, the girls were so oblivious to possible danger that they might actually be the only two on campus who _needed_ 'dudescorting'.)

Once they were (thankfully) gone, Danny headed off to the Alchemy Department to see what she could learn about any possible connection between them and the missing girls, and Laura began researching Sarah Jane and Natalie, so that she could better illustrate to her audience just _how_ out of character the two were acting.

Once she felt she had enough information to make her point, she sat down and to make another vlog entry. Just as she was about to start recording, Bree slipped quietly through the door, pausing when she realized what Laura was doing. "Oh. Um, I can come back later..."

"Oh, don't be silly," Laura said, waving off her concern. "This is your room, too. I'm just making another video."

"I know," she said flatly.

It was Laura's turn to pause. Bree had never really been enthused about her journalism project/missing roommate investigation, but she'd never really opposed it, either. "Is that a problem?" Because if her attitude toward the whole thing had changed, Laura would like to know why.

"That you're doing it?" Bree shook her head. "No. It wouldn't be my place to object about that. It's been made clear to me, however, that not stopping you and actually helping you are two different things."

Laura frowned. "You _haven't_ really been helping us - unless playing chaperone counts."

Bree allowed herself a wry smile. "Yes, I imagine you wouldn't be getting much of anything done if you were busy letting Danny have her way with you."

Laura blushed. "What makes you so sure _she'd_ be making all the moves?" she challenged.

"Possibly that _she_ didn't want a third party in the room to help make sure everybody stayed dressed?" She moved over to the fridge and got one of her protein supplement bottles. They were a little smaller than the average bottle of water, and made of a hard, white plastic. The only writing on them was a QR code, which she could scan with her phone when she was almost out, to let the pharmacy know she needed more. Bree put the empty ones in a separate bag - presumably one she'd got while staying in the infirmary, since it was a yellow plastic bag with a biohazard symbol on it - which she took with her when she went to go pick up the new batch, evidently to recycle them.

"That isn't what I-" Laura sputtered, turning redder. She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Filming Natalie's second interview while she and Danny showed visible signs of having been making out immediately beforehand had been bad enough - she was _still_ hearing about that on Twitter (that Carmen person especially loved teasing her about it) - she didn't need to start this video out looking like a tomato. Once she was more or less back to normal - Bree had finished her drink by this point - she turned on the camera. "Look, you can say what you want, but something seriously wrong is happening on this campus. Because of the whole Alchemy Club sitch we tried talking to Natalie again. What could just suddenly turn this girl-" She paused there so that she could edit in a clip from the first interview later. "-into _this_ girl?" The 'table dancing' clip would go there. "And it isn't just Natalie who isn't herself either."

Bree had sat down on her bed, opening one of her books - _Elements de La Philosophie Chretienne: Comparee Avec Les Doctrines Des Philosophes Anciens_ , which Laura thought was _probably_ another religious and/or spiritual book, but French wasn't one of the languages she knew - and trying to ignore what Laura was doing, as she usually did during filming. Maybe it was because Danny wasn't there to distract Laura from trying to engage her, but Bree wasn't doing quite as well at that as usual. "You've spent a grand total of, what? Ten, maybe fifteen minutes with them?" she asked distractedly, not looking up from her book. "How would you know?"

"By talking to people who _do_ know them," Laura countered. "I know they went through something traumatic, but... I mean, that's not just kidnapping, that's... I don't even know. It's like they're whole other people." She directed her attention back at the camera. "Danny's gone to see what she can figure out about the Alchemy Club guys but... I don't know. I mean, I know the Alchemy Club is into some pretty weird stuff, but there's a difference between prehensile cheese and turning coeds into pod people."

"I don't think they ever even got that cheese to work properly."

"Natalie was here on a full scholarship," Laura continued. "And Sarah 'wrinkly face' Jane was a freaking premed prodigy before that swim team party. Those aren't the kind of things you achieve by being obsessed with partying and having mindless fun. I mean they're acting like... like..."

"Your former roommate?" Bree suggested with a shrug. About two seconds later, she froze, her mind visibly catching up with her mouth. "Oh, tell me I didn't say that out loud..." she requested softly, a mix of chagrin and alarm on her face.

Laura, for her part, blinked in surprise. "Huh? Well, yeah, Betty was something of a party animal, but..." She trailed off, realization sinking in, not noticing the increasing look of dismay on Bree's face. "Holy crap. Betty _was_ , wasn't she? Or, what if whatever this is was already happening to her before she was even kidnapped? And what if there's a way to figure out if she was actually..."

She refocused on her computer, typing rapidly. It wouldn't be until much later, when she was editing, that she'd see - and be confused by - Bree shaking her head, looking miserable as she muttered, "I am _**so**_ going to be hearing about this later..."

* * *

They'd ended up dividing the team between two small rented houses. The more obvious BPRD agents, the ones the Dean and whoever she had working for her were _meant_ to see - Hellboy, Abe, and Liz, along with a couple of technicians - were in one. The ones who weren't officially there - or, in Carmilla's case, didn't officially exist - were several blocks away, in the other.

Team Two, at least, would be settling in for a while they ventured forth. Carmilla would be all but climbing the walls, but laying low and letting any scrutiny their arrival might have attracted die down was an unfortunate but necessary step of the plan. (Besides, she'd only have to put up with it for a day or so before Carmen 'officially' arrived in Trofaiach, and she could go explore the town.)

Team One, meanwhile, would be working to draw all the attention to themselves. After a much shorter settling in period - which, aside from the techs, consisted mainly of dropping their bags in their assigned rooms - Hellboy and Abe ventured forth immediately, heading for Silas University. (Liz stayed behind so that they wouldn't show off all their big guns at once... and in case they needed rescuing.)

"Look on the bright side," Hellboy commented as Abe steered the rented car carefully down the street. (With his oversized stone hand and bulky frame, Hellboy couldn't really have been driving even if he'd wanted to. At least the SUV had a big enough backseat to fit him.) "We're heading for what may be the only college in the world where we'll fit right in."

They both knew Abe could sometimes be a little nervous heading out without a disguise, as he currently was. (Hellboy had gotten used to it a long time ago, just as the world had gotten used to him.) The SUV's windows were tinted, so no one could see in, but once they got to Silas... "Yes, well, as nice as that may be for the two of us, I don't think I like the _reason_ for it." Namely that, for whatever reason, the student body either didn't find anything at Silas all that unusual... or they were too _afraid_ to say anything. It hadn't escaped the BPRD's notice that, aside from Lawrence, Hollis wasn't mentioning _any_ names of the people who'd been writing to her to help. None of that was taking place on Twitter - or anywhere else that was similarly public - either; people were talking about what went on in her videos, true, but that was all. No information, no offers of help.

"Yeah. Still hoping we can just punch this lady until she coughs up the missing girls."

"That's your solution to everything."

"Hey, go with your strengths, right?"

Silas University really did look like an ordinary college at first glance. Easy enough to see why even someone as overprotective as the Hollis girl's father was supposed to be might not have seen a problem with letting his daughter attend school there. (He also clearly wasn't one of the ones watching her videos, or she wouldn't _still_ be at Silas. If they really needed to get her out of there, sending him a link to them might be one way to go about doing so discretely.) Abe pulled into a spot in the small visitor's parking lot in front of the Administration building, then shut off the vehicle. "So, do they know we're coming, or are we just going to have to hope the Dean is in her office?" he asked.

In response, Hellboy activated his comm unit. "Kate? We're here."

" _Then I guess I have a call to make,_ " she replied. " _You might want to hurry, before she can make herself 'unavailable'._ "

"Copy that."

They got out of the car and headed inside. It was late afternoon, so there weren't all that many people present. The few that were there gave them startled looks as they walked past, but that was it. Give them time to get used to the idea of a world-famous paranormal investigator like Hellboy being around, they probably wouldn't even get that. It was a shame the school was run by the forces of evil, really.

That kind of complete, immediate acceptance outside of the BPRD was rare.

A couple questions to a passing secretary, and they were on their way to the Dean's office. Hellboy knocked perfunctorily on the door, then opened it before receiving any kind of acknowledgement.

An annoyed sigh came from within the office. "This is _not_ a good time," a woman's cold voice told them. The office wasn't overly large, suggesting the Dean didn't care about impressing anyone, likely because their opinions simply didn't matter to her. It was meant for function, not form. The desk was ornate mahogany, with a pair of simple chairs in front of it. There were filing cabinets tucked away in a corner, as if an afterthought. The curtains on the windows were closed, all the light present coming from a domed overhead light and a banker's lamp on the desk. The carpet was a plush burgundy. All in all, the office itself was beautiful but austere.

The woman seated behind the desk was even more so.

She looked to be of Middle Eastern descent, with dark hair handing down past her shoulders. (Maybe it was because of all the time he'd spent around Carmilla, but Hellboy wasn't used to a vampire not being rather pale.) As Miss Hollis had said, she gave the impression of being a middle-aged woman, and was wearing a charcoal grey power suit. Her expression hadn't exactly been open to start with, but it closed off completely when she looked up and saw who was at her door. Somehow, Hellboy got the idea she didn't smile all that often... and that when she did, it _never_ lead to anything good. "Lilita Morgan?" he asked smoothly. Carmilla hadn't been able to offer much advice regarding talking to her Mother - she'd never really come out ahead in any of their conversations - but one thing she had said was that if they could manage to catch her off balance, they should try and keep her there.

"Yes." She seemed mildly annoyed. "It would seem courtesy is something of a dying art in this day and age; I was only _just_ notified of your arrival."

"Well, you're not an easy woman to get a hold of," he replied evenly. "In fact, no one really seems to know just who you really are."

"Those that _need_ to know who I am do." She fixed them with a chilly glare. "Gentlemen, it's late, and I have other things to do tonight. What is it that the BPRD wants at my school?"

"We understand you have some missing students," Abe spoke up, drifting slightly off to the side to make her split her focus between them.

"You were misinformed."

"Were we? Well, then, where exactly _is_ Elizabeth Anne Spielsdorf?"

"And before you say she went home," Hellboy broke in as she opened her mouth to answer, "keep in mind that we checked with her family; she's not there."

"If the girl elected not to go home after she left the school, that would be her decision. I don't keep track of drop-outs."

"As I understand it, she's one of _four_ girls to go missing so far, and it's only part way into the school year. That doesn't seem like the kind of thing a responsible administration should just ignore."

"You've been watching the Hollis girl's videos, I take it?" She shook her head. "That child has a flair for overdramatizing things to make her journalism project seem more exciting than it is. She's already been warned once about that, though it seems not to have sunk in."

Hellboy smiled thinly (though, with his severe features, it was somewhat hard to tell). "Well, don't worry. We'll be keeping a _close_ eye on her, should whoever or whatever's taking the girls decide to target her, too," he said casually. Translation: Try to shut her up, and it'll go badly for you.

"Very kind of you. However, this is a private university. Unless you can provide some proof to back up your claims, I won't have you wandering around campus, distracting my students."

"And we can certainly understand your position," Abe told her, seemingly all manners and politeness. "However, this university is located within the borders of the Republic of Austria, and they've given us carte blanche to act as we see fit to resolve this situation. Evidently, this sort of thing has happened before, only none of _those_ girls were ever heard from again."

"Indeed?" Her expression somehow cooled even more. "I presume you won't be offended if I investigate this claim?"

"Not at all. In the meantime, I think it would be best if Hellboy and I introduced ourselves to Miss Hollis. Perhaps she'd be less inclined to cause any further disruptions if she knew someone was taking her seriously."

"That would certainly be welcome. As I understand it, she's been neglecting her schoolwork more and more while conducting her 'investigation'." She stood up. Abe and Hellboy had been standing for the entire conversation, and she hadn't looked even the slightest bit intimidated, either by that or their appearances. Had either of them doubted Carmilla's belief that this was her 'Mother', that would have helped convince them. "Come with me."

"You have a lovely school," Abe offered as they exited the Administration building, heading for Laura's dorm, Crowley Hall.

"Thank you, Mister Sapien. We are quite proud of it."

"I don't believe I ever introduced myself," he commented, keeping his sudden wariness out of his voice as best he could.

"No, you didn't," she agreed. "As I said, it would seem courtesy is something of a dying art. Nevertheless, I know who you are." She looked over her shoulder at them, the small smile on her face sharper than any she'd cast their way before... and not getting anywhere near her eyes.. "I know _exactly_ who you both are." With that, she continued walking, Hellboy and Abe following. They weren't quite rattled, by any means, but they _were_ definitely wary. Odds were good that she was just trying to mess with their heads, but it was that she'd immediately zeroed in on the best potential distraction that was concerning.

Neither of them really knew exactly where they'd come from, or why. A being as ancient as Carmilla believed her Mother was might just have some answers for them... but even if she did, the cost would be far, far too high. They both knew it. She most likely knew that they knew it. That she'd dangle that in front of them anyway...

Hellboy hadn't liked her at all before. He somehow liked her even _less_ , now.

Any students they came across as they walked got out of the way as quickly as they could, looking panicked. Being the trained investigator that he was, though, Hellboy could tell that their reactions were being caused by the Dean, rather than him or Abe. That the _entire_ student body was terrified of her... Well, that was one more sign that Carmilla was right about who she was. Not that they needed any more of them, by this point.

Room 307 was at the end of the hall. As the three of them headed for it, they caught sight of a young woman that looked like the Floor Don, Perry, ducking into it, most likely to warn Laura that the Dean was heading her way. Laura, they found, was standing near her computer, looking just as alarmed as anybody would if they'd been informed that the Dean was coming to talk to them _personally_. "Uh... Hi, Miss Dean. Can I help you?" Perry was standing off to the side, while Laura's roommate was nowhere to be found.

"Miss Hollis." Laura tried to bury a shiver, with mixed success. "Someone wishes to speak with you." She stepped aside, letting Hellboy fill the doorway, Abe just visible behind him.

Laura was understandably stunned, standing there silently for a long moment as her brain processed what her eyes were seeing. Then her face positively lit up. "Oh, _excellent_!" She darted forward... and Hellboy noticed she was subtly being careful where she stood. They'd evidently interrupted her in the middle of filming for another of her videos, and she was naturally taking advantage of that. "I didn't know you even knew how to get a hold of the BPRD, Ma'am, but _thank you_. I'm sure everyone at home is glad to know how serious you're taking this."

Hellboy fought down a smile as best he was able. Young Miss Hollis was certainly quick on the uptake, he had to admit. Her previous experiences with the Silas administration in general and the Dean of Students in particular had made it clear that the Dean mostly likely would _not_ want anyone from the BPRD (or any other government agency) there, but she couldn't deny Laura's statement without making herself look bad, and casting suspicion on the administration as a whole.

The Dean clearly knew that, too, given the arctic look Hollis was getting. "I do take any disruptions to my school _very_ seriously, yes."

Laura swallowed hard.

"Well, then, we won't keep you from whatever other business you have today," Hellboy, his best professional 'I don't like you, but I'm not allowed to hit you, yet' smile in place. "We'll let you know if we find anything."

"I should hope so." She turned and departed without ceremony.

Round One went to the BPRD.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

Laura wasn't exactly a huge believer in fate. The idea that there was supposedly some force, principle, or power that predetermined events? No. There might only be a certain amount of responses to some situations, but _she_ chose what actions she took. (Maybe next time she was trying to get to know Bree better, she decided, she should raise the subject of Fate vs Free Will. She was sure that someone majoring in Religious Studies would have quite a bit to say on the subject.)

So she didn't think it was fate, exactly, that one of the most widely known paranormal investigators in the world showed up in her doorway just as she telling her audience how she had no idea what was going on at Silas - and how she hadn't had any idea that Betty had been affected by... whatever... the entire time she'd known her - and saying she could really use some help. But if there _was_ some Higher Power up there, maybe He was finally taking pity on her.

It certainly felt like she'd earned a break.

She'd immediately invited Hellboy and his friend inside, since she was pretty sure this wasn't going to be an 'open door' conversation. (Privately, she reflected that she probably had a few too many of those as it was.) "This is... I just... Wow," she stammered out, and even though she knew this was an encounter she in no way could have anticipated nor prepared herself for, she still felt like an idiot the second the words left her mouth. Rather than dwell on her awkwardness, she pressed on immediately. "Uh, it is so, so good to have you gentlemen here. Can I offer you a snack, or something to drink?" At least her mortification at her lapse in manners where Danny had been concerned that one time meant she was making sure not to repeat it. Though... "I don't exactly have a lot to choose from - need to go grocery shopping in the next couple of days - but-"

"We're fine, thanks," Hellboy interrupted brusquely. She didn't know enough about him to know if that was common for him or not. "We're here on business."

"Yeah, I... kinda figured." She moved over to stand near her computer desk - making sure to avoid blocking the camera - to make more room for them. "So, what brings the BPRD to Silas? I mean, I know what's going on with the girls is weird, but that's only _just_ started."

The two exchanged a look, as if debating how much to tell her. For a moment she considered offering to shut off her camera, in case that might be what was making them reticent... but no. This was important, so it needed to be recorded. "Certain details from your videos raised a red flag for our researchers," Hellboy's friend finally said. She mentally ran through what little she knew about the BPRD, but couldn't recognize him. Which she felt she should have, as fishmen couldn't be all _that_ common.

Also, why would anything she'd said have caught anyone's attention? Unless... "This has happened before, hasn't it?" she realized. Judging by his grimace, she was right... and she hadn't been supposed to have figured that out. "Look, Agent... um..."

He looked mildly sheepish... she thought. His expressions weren't all _that_ easy to read. "Sorry. Abraham Sapien. You can call me Abe." He shot a wry look at Hellboy. "Maybe the Dean was right about courtesy being a dying art." Hellboy replied to that with an indelicate snort.

Laura felt like apologizing herself. "I don't really know all that much about your agency," she explained. "Never really had cause to look into anything strange or unusual before I got to Silas." She fixed her attention firmly on Hellboy. "You must have seen _a lot_ , though. I'd love to interview you for my Journalism class."

"Maybe after the matter at hand is dealt with," he said, not sounding terribly enthused about the idea.

"Right." That did make sense, she supposed. "So... Again, what brings you, well, here?" She gestured vaguely around her dorm room. "I mean, if you've been watching my videos, you already know pretty much everything I do." And she really could not get over the fact that _Hellboy_ was watching _her_ videos. Did he like them? Or.. Oh! Did he not? Was that was he was so, well, unsmile-y?

"We have some questions for you about your roommate." Hellboy paused. "Both of them, actually."

She blinked. "Bree? What does she have to do with anything? The most she's contributed to this one way or another was pointing out that Betty had been acting just like Natalie and Sarah Jane are now."

"We have reason to believe she isn't who or what she says she is."

Her eyebrows rose. Who or _what_? "What does _that_ mean?" She paused, thinking, then added, "Besides, she's never actually _said_ all that much about herself in the first place."

"First things first. Tell us about Miss Spielsdorf."

She was getting a little tired of _everybody_ refusing to tell her things. Still, what else could she do but cooperate? "Okay. What do you want to know?" She'd only known Betty for a few weeks before she disappeared, after all.

They started with a series of basic questions, presumably trying to build a framework for their mental image of Betty. After that, they combed through her first few weeks at Silas, charting out her behavior. Natalie and Sarah Jane had both disappeared within a day or two of each other, after all, which meant they had a vague idea of how long it took for whatever it was that happened to them to take place. If that was true of all cases, Betty would have had to have been taken long before she ever got to Silas.

"It's not just limited to Silas?" Laura asked, concerned. "Should we be looking for cases in town, too?"

" _We'll_ look into that," Hellboy said, reminding her that, however helpful she might have been being to them, she was still just a college student, while they were the trained paranormal investigators. "Odds are she was grabbed during a campus tour, or something."

"I doubt it. She told me she toured Silas during the Spring." She frowned. "The way she said it... It kinda sounded like she _didn't_ want to go here. I guess something changed her mind during the Summer."

"Where was she then?" Abe asked, leaning down to look at her computer. (She'd sat down once the questions had started, suspecting - correctly - that they might take a while.)

For a moment, Laura debated not answering him until they agreed to keep her in the loop... but no, that would just be petty. They were Betty and Elsie's best chance at being found; she had to do whatever she could to help with that. "Well, it took me a few hours of Facebook stalking, but I give you..." She pulled up some of the pictures she'd found."...Elizabeth Anne Spielsdorf: high school valedictorian, mayoral page. If you wanna know what she was up to during the summer, you'll have to ask around City Hall."

The two BPRD agents exchanged another look. "Oh, good. _Politics_ ," Abe grumped.

"What trip abroad would be complete without 'em?" Hellboy deadpanned.

"I don't really know much about the Mayor," Laura added. "She tends to keep to herself, I guess, and I haven't had any time to research her, too."

"Don't worry, we can handle that," Abe assured her. "Research is right there in our name, after all." With a smirk, he shot a look at Hellboy and added, "Even if some of us don't enjoy it as much as others."

"What can I say? My particular skillset is geared toward other things." He turned back to Laura. "As for your _current_ roommate, you'll want to be careful around her."

"Why?" Occasional temper flare-ups aside, Bree was as good of a roommate as Laura could have asked for. (And not a single one of those times had been directed at her.) Not that Betty hadn't been great, too, she thought immediately, feeling a sliver of guilt. Bree was quiet, considerate, and stayed out of the way as much as she possibly could. She was pretty much what Laura thought of, now, when she heard the phrase 'good Christian girl'. What did she have to be careful of with _her_?

"She's a vampire," Hellboy said bluntly.

"I'm... sorry?" She couldn't have heard that right.

"She's a vampire."

"A vampire," she repeated flatly.

"Yeah."

"As in fangs, drinks blood, one of the undead? That sort of vampire?"

"Yep."

She stared at him for a long moment, then shifted her gaze to Abe. "It's true," he told her with a little shrug.

"How could you possibly _know_ that?"

"Again, research."

"Vampires... are real?"

"Afraid so," Hellboy said, crossing his arms... and (possibly) unintentionally bringing her attention toward his stone hand... and reminding her that he wasn't exactly human, himself. Given the nature of the two BPRD agents standing in her dorm room, were vampires _really_ such a stretch?

Probably not. And it would explain a few things about her. Though... "She wears a cross."

"It needs to be blessed to do anything."

Laura's thoughts were whirling. One thing stood out above the others, and she stood up, then walked over to their mini-fridge, opened it, and took out one of Bree's 'protein supplement' drinks. She hesitated, then got a mug from near her own hot cocoa supply, opened the bottle, and poured some of its contents into the mug.

Which she nearly dropped when she saw that the bottle was full of blood.

She stared at it in shock for a long moment, Abe and Hellboy giving her time to process what she was seeing. "Well... Well, even if she is a vampire, that doesn't mean anything," Laura stammered out.

"Maybe, maybe not." Hellboy didn't seem terribly convinced, for some reason. "Haven't met many _good_ vampires, in my time."

"I bet other people could probably say that about demons," she shot back, then winced. "I'm sorry, that... That wasn't called for."

"No, you're not wrong," he said, not sounding offended in the slightest. "That's why I'm suggesting caution, instead of tracking her down and taking care of the threat. But until we know more about what's happening on this campus, I can't say for sure that she isn't involved in it."

"I... I get that," she said, feeling unaccountably guilty for doubting her roommate at all. Maybe she _was_ too trusting, but she also had no evidence of any wrongdoing, and wasn't about to start species-profiling. She walked back to her desk, setting bottle and mug down on it, then turned to Hellboy, looking him right in the eyes. "Can you find them?" He seemed to like blunt, straightforward statements and questions. "Can you bring them home?"

He met her gaze for a long few moments. "I won't be leaving until I do," he promised quietly.

She kept looking at him for a moment longer, then nodded and sat down at her computer, quickly copying a number of files onto a spare flashdrive. (She thought it might originally have been Betty's, so this was kind of appropriate, really.) "This is everything we've put together, so far." She held it out to him. "It's not a lot, but..." She shrugged.

He took it from her with surprising delicacy. "Thank you. You might wanna think about keeping your head down from now on, though. Between the Dean and whatever's happening to the girls... Let us handle this, alright?"

Thinking of the Dean, she had to fight down a shiver. "Yeah, I... I get that." Which wasn't exactly an agreement. "I'd like to be kept in the loop, though."

"Not if you plan on putting everything we learn up online for the bad guys to see."

"Hey, if I hadn't done that, you wouldn't have known about any of this!"

"True. But we do, now - and, to be honest, you didn't learn anything that it hurt to let the kidnapper or kidnappers know that you knew."

"We can sit you down and give you the whole story after it's over," Abe promised consolingly.

It wasn't that she couldn't see the logic in what they were saying. She could. And while she technically didn't _need_ to be posting her Journalism project online, she didn't want to protest solely because of that. It would have sounded horribly selfish. "Be careful," she said instead. "I don't know what it is, but something about all of this is giving me a _bad_ feeling."

"Kid, I know exactly what you mean," Hellboy said seriously.

 

* * *

 

Laura had been at something of a loss as to what to do after Hellboy and Abe left. Danny had sent her a couple of texts explaining why she wasn't back, yet- evidently, whatever she was doing with the Alchemy Club had been delayed a bit due to Summer Society-related matters (something about a mobile compost heap wandering onto the track some of her sisters were taking a run on; Laura decided she probably didn't want to know) - and Laura wouldn't have known what to look into next without her, even if she hadn't pretty much just been told to stay out of the way.

Homework had been the next obvious answer, though she was having some trouble focusing. She had, eventually, managed to pull herself together enough to start rereading some of the books they were going over in Lit class... which was good, because some of them were apparently versions that were unique to Silas, or something, and chances were they would be quizzed on those, rather than the original (that is, real) ones, if her last quiz had been any indication. She didn't have much else to do in her other classes, though algebra was never her favorite even when she wasn't fighting against distraction.

She'd just finished her poli-sci paper - it had been a short assignment - when Bree walked into the room.

"So, how goes the investigation?" she asked, sounding somewhat reluctant. She dropped her bag on her bed, then sat down next to it heavily.

"Bumped up the food chain," Laura said, watching her closely. How should she approach this? she wondered. Discretely allude to her true nature and see if she gave herself away? Flat-out ask her? Maybe don't say anything, but start actively investigating Bree, instead? She'd have the time, now, if she wasn't going to be looking for Betty, anymore.

Bree paused in the middle of pulling one of her books from her bag, giving Laura an odd look. "What does _that_ mean?"

"The BPRD showed up. I guess someone there saw my videos, or something. Hellboy himself was here."

"The BPRD." She closed her eyes, seeming like she was trying to steady herself. "Great. That's sure to put the Dean into a _wonderful_ mood."

Despite everything, Laura couldn't help but wince a bit. "She didn't seem happy when she escorted them here to talk to me, but she _did_ do it."

"Of course she did. She couldn't refuse without looking suspicious, and risking an incident." Bree shook her head, sighing. "You don't seem as happy as I would have thought to have professionals on the case," she noted.

"Well, for one thing, I don't really like the idea of just giving up, even if the BPRD _did_ send their A-team." Just sitting back and letting someone else take of her problems for her went rather against the grain.

"Hm. I get that."

"Also..." She hesitated.

"What?"

Should she? Screw it, she was going to. "Bree, can I ask you something?"

"Okay." Her expression was one of curiosity mixed with mild concern.

Laura took a deep breath, then asked, "Are you a vampire?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You..." Laura's jaw sagged momentarily before she shook her head. "Not that I had any idea how this was going to go, but I wasn't expecting you to just... admit it."

"I'm a lot of things, Laura - many of which I'm not proud of." She briefly looked down, traces of quiet shame on her face, before shaking it off. "But I am not a liar."

Maybe she was being a naive idiot, but Laura believed it.

"So, um..."

Bree sighed. "I like you, Laura. I really do. But my life story is not a pretty one, and I don't really feel like going into it."

"Okay, but-"

"No," she interrupted, expression uncompromising. "No buts. We are not talking about this." She noticed the mug of blood still sitting on the desk - Laura had left it there, needing a reminder that yes, it really had happened - and got up, picking it up and taking a sip. Laura felt her stomach twist... and Bree was looking right at her the whole time. "I don't think you really _want_ any details, anyway."

Maybe not. There stood her roommate, _drinking blood_ , like it was perfectly normal, and not gross and horrible and sick and a hundred other things that might induce nausea. Because it was, for her. That was the world she lived in. Did Laura really want to know more about that, want to dive into it in search of answers? Or did she want to stay in her sunshine-filled world, where everything was normal and made sense? Where vampires were just fictional, good triumphed over evil, and Betty and the others would be brought back safe and sound?

She watched Bree take another sip of blood - trying to make a point, almost goading her with the fact - and realized it was too late. The soft, _safe_ veneer of her world had already been torn away. She'd given up on that the moment she'd refused to accept that Betty was just gone, and she wasn't going to pretend the world was all sunshine and roses to make herself feel better. Maybe it would be safer... but it wouldn't be better. She'd been _safe_ at home with her Dad, and that had been so stifling, so _sterile_... She actually preferred this, even if she was in danger. "Yes, I do."

Bree blinked. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, I do," she repeated. "I get that you might not want to talk about it, and that's fine. I'm not going to make you. But yes, I _do_ want to know. You're my friend, too, Bree. I care about you. Of course I want to know more about you. I hope, in time, you'll feel comfortable enough with me to tell me."

Bree needed a moment to take that in. "Well... You ever turn that camera off, and I'll think about it."

Laura smiled. "Heh. Deal."

Bree took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "So..." She seemed uncertain where to take things next. "Are you _actually_ going to ignore whatever's going on and let the BPRD handle it?"

"I said I'd stay out of their way, and not insist on broadcasting anything they might learn for everyone to see." But no, she realized, she could _not_ just do nothing. "But that doesn't mean I can't keep looking into things on my own. Well, Danny and I. Maybe let them know what I find _before_ I film any videos, in case any of it's too sensitive." She studied Bree. "Is there anything you can tell me about what's going on? I mean, if it's attracted the BPRD's attention, it probably involves something from your world, so you'd be more likely to know something than anyone else I know."

Bree was silent for a long moment. "I honestly have no idea where the girls are - and before you ask, no, I did not abduct any of them. I can't tell you who did, and I really don't know what's making them act the way they are. One thing I _can_ tell you is that the key to not dying young is learning when _not_ to ask questions, and that some opponents are just too big and bad to fight."

"Well, I won't be doing the fighting, so hopefully that should help."

"Honestly, Laura, your best hope of surviving this would probably be to transfer to a college in England or somewhere." She sighed. "But I think it's too late for that."

"I am really bad at just leaving things alone," Laura admitted.

"I've noticed. If you don't learn how, that habit of yours _will_ come back to bite you."

"I know, I know..." She smiled, just a little, and added, "Oh, and speaking of biting..." Part of her still couldn't believe she was having this conversation, that she was just _accepting_ that her roommate was a vampire. Yet, how could she not believe it, given what she'd seen?

Bree fought down a grin. "Oh, don't worry. I know you're off limits. Besides, I can kind of smell the excess glucose in your blood from here. My sweet tooth isn't _that_ strong."

"Hey!" Laura objected playfully.

"You could probably be the new Zotter mascot, if you get tired of journalism."

"Very funny."

Something in the hallway seemed to catch Bree's attention, and she quickly downed what was left in the mug, taking it into the bathroom to wash it out in the sink. A few moments later, the door opened and Danny came in. "Hey, I'm back, _finally_." As she shut the door, Laura noticed her hair seemed damp. Following her gaze, Danny grimaced. "Yeah. Would have been here sooner, but I _really_ needed a shower."

"Because of whatever was going on at the track, or meeting with the Alchemy Club?" Laura asked.

"Yes."

Laura shook her head, unable to completely keep a smile from creeping onto her face. "Danny..."

"Nevermind that now," Danny said, waving it off, and drawing Laura's attention to the flashdrive in her hands. "I have returned victorious."

"They _are_ the ones taking girls?" Laura asked, surprised. She supposed that the 'alchemy' aspect of it might have drawn the BPRD's attention... but it didn't seem likely.

"What? Oh, no. More like they're the ones using dander collected at parties to seed an immense interconnected fungus throughout campus..."

She blinked. "I'm sorry, what now?"

Danny shrugged. "Apparently it's a communications experiment. Or maybe a very complicated risotto recipe. I don't know."

"Probably both!" Bree called from the bathroom.

"Well, either way, that's not the victory part." Danny held up the flashdrive. "Those creepy little proto scientists have been photo tracking every party on campus for their documentation."

"We have pictures of every party where the girl has disappeared?" Laura asked.

"Yep."

"So we can track all the girls through all of them! Danny, you are brilliant."

Danny smiled. "I like the sound of that."

Bree, clean mug in hand, exited the bathroom. "Well, I'm sure your new friends in the BPRD will be thrilled to hear that."

Danny blinked. "What?"

"The BPRD's here, looking into things," Laura explained. "I actually got to _meet_ Hellboy!" Her face fell. "Though... They didn't actually leave me any way of getting in contact with them. Except for my videos, I guess."

"Why would they _not_ want to know if you found anything else?"

"They seemed to want me to stay as far away from all this as I could get."

Danny frowned. "Why? Did they even know about this before you told them?"

"To get here this fast after you began posting your videos, they must have," Bree stated.

"They said certain details from my videos raised a red flag for their researchers," Laura said.

"What details?" Danny asked.

"...I don't know. They didn't say." She paused. "The questions they were asking certainly made it _seem_ like they had some idea about what was going on."

"Maybe they did," Bree suggested, shrugging. "Everyone's hiding _something_ , Laura."

"I suppose. Well, either way, they're still our best chance of saving the missing girls, so we should concentrate on finding information that can help them."

Bree put the mug away, grabbed her keys, and headed for the door. "Well, you have fun sorting through all those _hundreds_ of photos," she said as she left.

Laura sighed, agreeing, "Yeah... This is going to be incredibly boring."


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

It was irritating beyond belief that even though she was in the same town as the university where all the girls were going missing, all she could do in terms of finding out what was going on was still just watching Laura's videos.

Carmilla didn't react well to irritation. She was currently secluding herself in her bedroom, with the rest of the team wisely leaving her alone.

At the moment, no one was making any real progress. Hellboy and Abe planned on heading down to City Hall (and she had to wonder if it wasn't called 'Town Hall' to avoid confusion with the assemblies at Silas) in the morning to ask about Spielsdorf's time there. If she really had been taken while working as a page, chances were someone there was on her Mother's payroll. In the meantime, there wasn't much else they could do. She'd been surprised when a new video had popped up - she knew how long it had been since Hellboy and Abe had been there, so Hollis must have hurried to get it edited, rendered, and posted since then - but at least it had been _something_ new.

Hellboy had been a bit vague when telling her about how their meeting with the girl had gone. That wasn't terribly unusual when it came to him, so she hadn't thought anything of it, but she was starting to wish she'd pressed him for details sooner. She supposed things had gone as well as they could have, given the need to keep her presence a secret, and wanting to keep civilians like Hollis out of danger... but it still could have gone better. The questions had been a bit too specific to have no idea what was going on, yet this cycle of abductions was supposed to be the first they'd heard of it. Fortunately, they'd never actually _said_ the BPRD hadn't heard of any similar cases over the years, but their vagueness on that front hadn't escaped Laura's notice, either.

(And maybe it was getting harder to keep thinking of her just as Hollis, after watching her videos and corresponding with her on Twitter. So what?)

"You still hiding in here?" Kate asked as she opened the door, peeking in.

Having heard her coming, Carmilla wasn't at all phased by the interruption. "I prefer considering it sparing everyone else from my temper." She didn't look up from the laptop on the bed in front of her - there wasn't a desk in the small bedroom, and she likely wouldn't have used it if there was. Sitting cross-legged on her bed as she worked was just more comfortable to her, and more familiar.

"Which I'm sure the others appreciate." Kate clearly felt differently, walking into the room and sitting down on the other end of the bed. "We need to develop a strategy for tomorrow, though, and you're still our resident expert on Lilita Morgan."

"I've never met anyone who called herself that," Carmilla disagreed. "I've changed a lot since 1872. Do you really think she hasn't, as well?"

"Even if she has, the rest of us don't know anything at all about her."

"I guess." She was silent for a moment, replaying part of the video. "Oh, she's _good_ ," she said as she watched Bree subtly casting doubt on the BPRD. "Never actually comes right out and says anything that's _technically_ a lie, freely admits she's a vampire, carefully dances around actually explaining anything... She's going to be a problem."

"Maybe so," Kate admitted. "Yet, if anything happened to her, it wouldn't take much to make the leap as to who did it, and the Dean would _not_ keep quiet about that. It would be a public relations _nightmare_."

Fortunately, Carmilla knew Kate well enough to know what she was actually saying: _unprovoked_ action against Bree Vale was unacceptable. If she started something, that was different. "Yeah, yeah, I know. 'Innocent until proven guilty'." The American justice system had definitely taken some getting used to, particularly when there was a part of her that was used to just killing anyone who got in her way. She knew that had likely been implanted by Mother, and she'd worked hard to shed as much of her programming as she could, but once you started taking lives - once you, for whatever reason, considered them unimportant compared to your own desires, whatever those might be - it changed you. She knew that, on some level, violence would always be her first response to some things. She wasn't proud of it, but wasn't about to waste time denying it.

For good or ill, she was who she was.

She looked back at her computer and had to smile, noting that she'd accidentally paused it on the 'An incredibly boring amount of time later...' title card. It was good that Laura was managing to keep her sense of humor, given everything going on. There wasn't much to the rest of the videos. As much as Carmilla might have wanted the pictures Hollis and Lawrence had been looking at to show Bree stalking the girls, she was clearly being more careful than that. Oh, she might have shown up at one or two parties, but she never got anywhere near the girls. No one was at _all_ of the parties, near _all_ of the girls. It made sense, as that would be a rather careless mistake to make... unless you were actually _trying_ to sabotage things, she supposed. Mother would only need a few of her 'children' to play lure and lead the victims into a trap, and if Spielsdorf had been taken during the summer, there could be as few as two or three of them doing it. (Given her usual luck - to say nothing of Hellboy's - she mentally bumped that number up considerably.) Really, the most interesting thing about the end of the video, to her, was that Laura and - what was Lawrence's first name? Danny? - had clearly been up to something more than just looking at photos while the camera had been off: Laura's outer shirt was gone, Danny was now wearing the plaid shirt that had been tied around her waist, and the formerly made up bed behind them now had distinctly rumpled sheets. They hadn't been getting busy - she knew the signs of _that_ fairly well, given her past, and she wasn't seeing them - but they'd been up to _something_ , alright.

She buried a smirk. None of her business, really. And maybe Laura was kind of cute when she was sleeping like that. So what?

They _did_ at least note Will's presence at the Under The Sea swim team party, and given how he and Bree clearly knew each other from somewhere, Laura combined those two facts to make the deductive leap that he was also a vampire, at which point the video ended. "I can't help but notice she doesn't seem to be staying out of this," Carmilla noted.

"Yeah." Kate grimaced. "Not sure what we can say to change that until we start making real progress _without_ her giving us information."

"Maybe we should have given her our phone number or something, so she wouldn't _need_ to broadcast videos to tell us things?"

"Maybe. Hellboy and Abe are meeting with Mayor Belmonde tomorrow, hopefully that will-"

"Wait," Carmilla interrupted, jerking her head up to look at Kate in surprise. " _Whom_ did you say the Mayor was?"

"Someone named Matska Belmonde," Kate said, watching her carefully. "Why? Someone you know?"

Her eyebrows shot up. "Mattie? Yeah. She's... my sister."

"Which may explain how Spielsdorf was taken."

"I'm going along, tomorrow," Carmilla decided abruptly.

"I thought the plan was _not_ to let your Mother's people know about you?"

"Mattie won't tell her," Carmilla said confidently. "She's actually tried taking Mother out herself, once or twice, over the centuries."

"If I had someone like that working for me, I'd be keeping a _close_ eye on them."

That was true. Caution reared its ugly head, dampening her excitement at the prospect of reuniting with the only one of her 'siblings' who'd been like an _actual_ sister to her. "I'll be discreet," she said, which could mean anything from going in disguise to changing into an animal form and being smuggled into the building. "The psychic can look out for any supernatural means of surveillance, while Leach looks for the more physical kind - regular security cameras notwithstanding. I won't go in to talk to her until they give the all-clear." Just because she didn't usually exercise caution didn't mean she didn't know how.

"Okay," Kate said, sounding somewhat reluctant. "For what it's worth, I hope you're right. We can use all the help we can get on this."

" _All_ the help?" Carmilla asked, gesturing toward her laptop.

"The sooner we get this solved, the sooner Miss Hollis will be out of danger."

Carmilla wasn't so sure. Somehow, Laura Hollis seemed like the kind of person who would just find some new trouble to throw herself headfirst into.

 

* * *

 

 

It was a strange experience, sleeping across the room from a vampire.

Intellectually, she knew nothing at all had changed. Whenever it was she'd been changed, Bree had been a vampire since long before Laura had met her. (She hadn't given Laura any details, but Laura could read between the lines enough to pick up on that much, at least.) She'd never bitten Laura before, and wasn't likely to start now... particularly if she hadn't been kidding about being turned off by the high sugar content of Laura's blood. (If that was true, she was totally going to use that as justification to continue her largely junk food diet; she was pretty sure that even her Dad would let her get away with it if it served as an odd sort of vampire repellent.) Bree's behavior hadn't changed a bit: she was still friendly, conscientious, and even respected the chore wheel - in fact, she would even pick up Laura's slack when she got caught up in researching, and never say a word about it. She also continued her religious studies, which didn't make sense as a cover when Laura _knew_ what she was. That suggested her beliefs might actually be genuine, which Laura wasn't sure what to do with.

Still, knowing that her roommate wasn't human, anymore... Well, it was odd. She'd known Hellboy had existed for a while, so it wasn't like she'd _never_ believed there were other sapient life forms besides humanity. She'd just never had one sleeping in the same room, was all. Because Bree _had_ eventually gotten back before Laura had gone to bed, though Danny had left by that point. (She'd mentioned Bree's vampirism to Danny, who'd seemed more nonplussed than anything. Evidently, vampires weren't _entirely_ uncommon at Silas, though they weren't typically as open about it as Bree. Still, knowing Will might be one, too, Laura actually felt a bit safer having Bree around.) "Aren't vampires supposed to be, like, nocturnal, or something?" Laura asked as she watched Bree getting ready for bed.

Bree chuckled. "Been watching The Vampire Diaries again? Or was it Supernatural, this time?" She shook her head. "We're a bit stronger at night, and our eyes can pick up a lot more in low light than yours, but that's about it. Sunlight killing us is a pop culture invention. Not quite as ridiculous as that nonsense about having no reflection, though."

"Yeah, that... doesn't really make any sense at all," Laura agreed. With most of the lights off, she couldn't see Bree all that well, lending the conversation an even more spooky air than it might otherwise have had, but, well, it was _Bree_. "I mean, if only things with no soul have no reflections, does that mean rocks have souls? Chairs? Beds? By that logic, my pillow should be a self-aware entity. Maybe I should make it a Twitter account of its own."

Bree laughed again. That laughter - so open and honest - was probably a good part of the reason Laura simply wasn't afraid of her. "Exactly. Though I think my favorite made-up weakness has to be arithmomania."

"Arith-wha...?"

"Arithmomania is a mental disorder that may be seen as an expression of obsessive–compulsive disorder," Bree explained. "Individuals suffering from this disorder have a strong need to count their actions or objects in their surroundings. In some folklore, vampires are all stricken with a debilitating obsession with numbers, so that if you throw a quantity of small objects on the ground in front of them - seeds, grain, beads, whatever - they will not be able to resist the urge to pick it up and count it; this affords the victim time to either run away or kill the vampire." There was a crinkling sound from near her desk, and Bree, assuming a puppet's Transylvanian accent, added, "Three! Three cookies! AH AH AH!"

Laura's eyes widened. "Oh! _That's_ why...? Huh. That's actually pretty clever of them."

"True. Can't really get mad at a kid's show, either, so most of us just let that one go."

Which implied there were others that wouldn't get that kind of consideration. "So, I take it that means no Twilight marathons?"

Bree didn't take the bait, though, and audibly shrugged. "Eh. Only seen the first movie - and that was the RiffTrax version. That series is a bit too _stupid_ to be offended by, and if people start thinking that's what vampires are like... Well, that works out for those of us who aren't covered in body glitter."

"I guess." Though that likely meant bad things for those people who couldn't recognize the danger staring them right in the face. That was just as true of some regular humans as it was vampires, though. She heard Bree getting in bed... and realized something. "You're doing that on purpose, aren't you?" she asked, almost suspiciously.

"Doing what?"

"Making noise, so that I know where you are. I didn't think anything of it before, but now... You could probably make most ninjas seem like loud, bumbling idiots, couldn't you?"

"It hardly costs me anything to be aware of your limitations." Which pretty much meant that she was doing exactly that, Laura decided. Being reminded how comparatively limited she was didn't make her feel great, but it actually kind of did reinforce Bree's claim that she wasn't going to lie, to Laura or anyone else.

"Well, thank you for that." She paused. If Bree was going to be that considerate, shouldn't she try and do the same? "About your blood bottles..."

"It isn't human, don't worry."

"That's not what I mean." There was an edge of curiosity to the silence in the room. "We do have a microwave, you know. If you wanted to heat it up. It can't be that good cold."

"I do sometimes do that when you aren't around," Bree admitted. "The smell is more noticeable when it's warm."

And it might well gross Laura out. "Well, now that I know, there's no reason for you not to warm it up all the time. If I can get used to that musty smell in my Bio classroom, I can get used to that."

Bree was silent for a long, contemplative moment. "Thank you, Laura," she said quietly, sounding genuinely touched. "I may just take you up on that. Speaking of class, though, I know you have a morning one tomorrow."

"I know, I know..." Sleep just wasn't coming easily that night. It wasn't just because of Bree, either. During their incredibly boring examination of the hundreds and hundreds of pictures (and she had to admit, the Alchemy kids had been _thorough_ in their documentation), after the little... _break_ they'd taken, Laura had pointed out that they were always meeting in Laura's room, rather than Danny's apartment. That was fine for her, since she wanted to document their investigation for her Journalism project (the BPRD's presence made posting her videos for all to see so that they could all work together somewhat less of a priority, she supposed... though only somewhat, until or unless she had some other way of getting information to them), but some privacy - and no risk of people just walking in like they lived there, too - would be nice, sometimes. Because she found that she really _liked_ kissing Danny. And touching her. And... Well, they hadn't actually gone further than that, yet.

That was actually why Danny hadn't invited her over. Her apartment was fairly small, since she didn't have a roommate to split expenses with her, but it was bigger than any of the dorm rooms, and, as Laura had noted, much more private. Danny's reply to that had been oddly flattering: "I don't trust myself alone with you." In the dorms, there was always the risk of interruption. Without that...

Laura hadn't been quite sure how to react to that. Part of her _wanted_ Danny to make a move like that, to take things that much further. (A part of her that involved her hormones, she'd admit.) But she wasn't quite ready for that step, yet. That Danny was willing to wait, despite obviously _wanting_ Laura badly, made her feel better about their whole relationship. She wasn't interested in just a physical relationship; she wanted it all.

Not that it made waiting any easier, especially when Danny insisted on looking so mouthwatering.

Her dreams weren't exactly PG, these days.

 

* * *

 

 

In the tradition of small towns the world over, Trofaiach's _Rathaus_ (which was just the German term for the chief administrative building, not indicative of what kind of people worked there, no matter what Hellboy thought) was modestly-sized, and had little to no obvious security. To Carmilla, this meant she didn't have to dodge any official security cameras. As for any hidden security measures... Well, that was why Thorne and Leach had come along.

Thorne, at least, didn't have to accompany them the whole way. He'd been able to get a feel for the building from the main lobby, and there didn't seem to be any noticeable psychic or magical surveillance. (Not during the day, anyway. Carmilla was willing to bet that anyone trying to break into someone's office - especially Mattie's - after everyone had gone home would be in for a _big_ surprise.) The building was largely stone and wood, so Leach was able to pick up on any metal present fairly easily. Admittedly, not being able to get close to the ceiling or tops of the walls limited what he could do, but any camera that was small enough to go unnoticed but powerful to pick up sharp enough details to potentially identify her would register on their more mundane equipment, and they weren't getting anything, either.

Though, if pressed, Carmilla knew that Mother didn't need to rely on technology. She was connected to all of her children. Nothing intrusive - not without being right in front of them, anyway; as Carmilla had noted, Mother was capable of just reaching into her children's heads and making _changes_ , if she felt the need. More than that, though, if she was that close, she could tell what they were thinking, unless they took special effort to block her, and if she _wanted_ in, she could batter down their defenses... and make them _regret_ defying her. It was entirely possible that all she'd have to do would be visit Mattie and inquire about the BPRD's visit, and she'd _see_ what Mattie had done, whom she'd talked to. She was willing to take the risk, though. As long as Mattie made it clear they didn't learn anything from her - and they already knew about Spielsdorf, so Mother would have no reason to doubt her - Mother likely wouldn't probe too deeply.

Besides, one way or another, she would eventually be learning of Carmilla's presence. It wasn't like they were risking giving away a huge secret.

That ability of Mother's to sense her offspring had been one of Carmilla's biggest worries, in the BPRD's early days. Tracking down an amulet that would block that (without harming any vampires that came into contact with it) had been one of the first - and nicest - things Professor Bruttenholm had done for her, later topped by arranging for the same symbol to be tattooed onto her back in magical ink. (She still wore the amulet, anyway, just in case.)

Despite the lack of any surveillance devices, Carmilla wasn't about to relax quite yet. There were still _people_ around who could see her, and she wouldn't put it past Mother to have a mole in the Mayor's Office - aside from the actual Mayor, of course. That was why, after today, Liz would be accompanying Hellboy and Abe out into the field; that way if anyone mentioned seeing a petite woman on the team, everyone would believe they'd meant her. It wasn't foolproof, but it would do for now.

And really, Hellboy wasn't the only one who wanted matters resolved sooner, rather than later.

She'd missed the Old World craftsmanship evident in the houses and buildings of Trofaiach, she realized. That was true of the City Hall, too. Polished marble floors, antique-looking wooden chairs and tables. It was a lot warmer, with more personality, than most government buildings in America - somewhat ironic, she supposed, given that her Mother (who could easily be the poster girl for the stereotypical Evil Vampire) was ultimately in charge. She didn't think she'd ever been to the town before - in the old days, she hadn't always known where Mother had taken her - but there was just something about it that said 'Styria', to her.

That, even now, a small part of her thought of as home.

The hints of modern technology, like the computer on the Mayor's secretary's desk, just seemed jarringly out of place. On the other hand, it helped remind her of where and _when_ she was, and why she was there. "May I help you?" the secretary said stiffly. She looked to be in her mid-20s, with short brown hair and matching eyes, and the occasional nervous glances she darted at Hellboy and Abe suggested she was entirely human. She must have been fairly new, too, to be phased by looking at a pair of paranormal investigators; Carmilla imagined anyone who worked for Mattie would be exposed to all _kinds_ of strange sights in short order.

Well, she was happy to speed that process along, if she could. "We're with the BPRD," she replied, deciding not to comment about how the woman kept focused on her as much as she could. Not yet, anyway. "We're here to see the Mayor."

The secretary tugged at the front of her gray suit jacket. "Do you have an appointment?"

"Oh, she's expecting us," Hellboy commented; Carmilla and Abe knew him well enough to detect the amusement lurking in his voice.

Mattie's secretary didn't. "May I see your credentials?"

Carmilla smiled. She couldn't help it. "As some old friends of mine were fond of saying, 'These are my credentials'," she said, gesturing to Hellboy and Abe on either side of her.

The woman swallowed hard, then let them through without further argument.

"Hutch would be proud," Hellboy murmured as they reached the door to the Mayor's inner office, and Carmilla's smile widened. He would have been, she thought, slightly wistful.

No time to get lost in her memories, though. She had something to focus on in the here and now that was much more important. She hung back a little, letting Hellboy's broad form hide her from sight for the moment. She wanted to make her entrance count.

Mattie was wearing a black power suit. Carmilla frowned. Mattie had always enjoyed looking fashionable, yes, and it was certain that the office of Mayor would require her to dress a bit more formally than she had in the past. Still, seeing her looking like that was just... wrong, somehow. She'd never been interested in holding that kind of responsibility, either.

She looked up when they entered, taking in both Abe and Hellboy before focusing primarily on the latter. No surprise there; he _was_ the more attention getting of the two. "Is there something I can do for you gentlemen?" she asked coolly.

"In fact, there is," Hellboy replied. "We have some questions for you about one of your former pages."

"That sounds like something you should take up with Human Resources."

"Why do I get the feeling they take that title a bit more literally here than most?" Abe asked Hellboy, seemingly ignoring Mattie.

"This place does certainly give off that vibe," Hellboy agreed.

Mattie had never liked being ignored. "What page?" Her tone had gotten distinctly sharper.

"Elizabeth Anne Spielsdorf," Hellboy told her, watching her carefully.

Her expression didn't flicker in the slightest. "She worked here over the summer, I believe. Solid worker, and the job isn't exactly difficult enough for any of the pages to make an impression, unless they do something wrong."

"You didn't notice any... shifts... in her behavior?" Abe prodded. "Lapses in professionalism, preoccupation with recreation?"

"She was a high school graduate about to head off to college," Mattie said flatly. "I'm sure she found time to have _some_ fun? Is that all?"

"No, actually," Carmilla spoke up, stepping around Hellboy. "Not even close."

Mattie went very, very still. For a long moment, nothing moved in the office. "Mircalla...?" she whispered, looking like she'd seen a ghost.

"Hey, sis. Miss me?"

Mattie gave a muted, incredulous laugh, a smile tugging at her lips... then in a blur of motion, she was suddenly in front of Carmilla, pulling her into a bone-crushing hug. "Oh, you have no idea...!" She laughed again when she finally stepped back, though she stayed within arm's reach. "We thought you were dead!"

"Technically, we both are."

She swatted her arm. "You know what I mean! How...?"

"The coffin Mother buried me in was exposed by an Allied bombing strike, and I got loose." Gesturing toward her fellow agents, she added, "Someone else found me first."

Mattie apparently hadn't quite taken in the BPRD jacket she was wearing. "You're... with _them_?"

"Yes," Carmilla said simply. "As far as purposes go, this far outstrips being bait in a supernatural con game."

"I suppose I can't argue that," she muttered. "Why would you come back _here_ , though?"

"To stop Mother, once and for all. I was hoping you'd help us with that."

Mattie looked physically pained. "I... can't."

"I know you've tried to kill her yourself, before."

"Exactly." Mattie tugged at her collar, tapping her bare neck. "That's the problem."

It took Carmilla a few moments to realize what was wrong with that picture. "Where's...?"

"When we heard about the bombing, figured out that your coffin had been hit... I tried again. I had to. When I failed... Mother decided to take precautions against any further attempts on her life. She took my necklace, Mircalla. If I even _support_ any efforts against her, I'm dead."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

Before they could discuss anything else, Carmilla had to first explain Mattie's statement to Hellboy and Abe. Given that Mattie herself had said (in not so many words) that she was dead if anything happened to her necklace, Carmilla didn't really feel like she was betraying any secrets by saying that the necklace held a piece of Mattie's heart in it, which let her survive otherwise fatal injuries, like staking. (In theory, also decapitation, though as far as she knew, Mattie had never tested that.) She knew she could trust Hellboy and Abe with the information. Whether or not it would 'accidentally' be left out of the official report remained to be seen.

"Why would you carry something like that with you, where it could even be destroyed by accident during a fight?" Abe asked incredulously once she was finished.

"Yeah, I've asked her that a few times, myself, over the years," Carmilla agreed.

"To try and keep from winding up in a situation just like this," Mattie said flatly. "I've no doubt that she, or one of her power-hungry minions, would have sought it out and worked their way past any safeguards I employed to get their hands on the one thing that would let them have me in their power."

"Well, given that it happened anyway..." Hellboy said, waving his left hand in a 'let's move this along' gesture.

"Right." Carmilla knew she needed to start focusing. "Do you know what she did with your necklace? Maybe we can-"

"It's currently hanging from around her neck," Mattie interrupted. "It wouldn't even take her a second to deal with me."

"So there's no point in asking you about anything new," Carmilla decided. "Fine. Let's stick with what we already know. You arranged for Spielsdorf to be taken, right?"

Mattie didn't say anything, but did incline her head slightly in a nod.

"So the current total's at four," Carmilla continued. "Have you been watching the Hollis girl's videos?"

"No, though I'm aware of them." She paused, then admitted, "Mother was _not_ happy." She felt safe enough saying that, as it was anything but a secret.

"I'm sure. She didn't... hurt anyone, did she?"

"Not that I'm aware of." She gave Carmilla an apologetic look. "I couldn't really help you much even if I wasn't being blackmailed, honestly. Being mayor, I have too much to keep busy with to pay much attention to what goes on at Silas, these days."

"What about that Bree girl?" Hellboy asked suddenly, surprising the two of them.

"What _about_ her?" Mattie replied, giving him an odd look.

"Would she be willing to help, or would your 'Mother's' control of her still be in full effect?" he clarified.

"Mother's always kept a _close_ eye on her, ever since she was 'recruited' from Nonnberg Abbey," she said, looking unconcerned. "She couldn't manage to shatter the girl's faith, and that tends to clash rather severely with her programming. She _does_ keep a close eye on her, though, so I wouldn't count on any help from Miss Vale."

"Wait, so... That's _not_ an act she's putting on in the videos?" Carmilla asked, surprised. "With the Religious Studies and such?"

"I would presume not. I'll admit, I don't really pay much attention to _her_ , either."

"She _did_ say in the eighth video that no one ever let her forget she was just 'The Replacement', didn't she?" Abe mused. " _Not_ just a way to make Miss Hollis feel guilty, then?"

Mattie shrugged, still looking uncaring, and Carmilla started feeling a bit guilty, herself. After her death, she'd at least had Mattie there, right from the beginning, to talk to, to help her when she needed it, to _teach_ her. If Bree had been alone, with her conditioning in such danger of failing that she required frequent (likely horribly uncomfortable, invasive, and quite possibly painful) booster shots, so to speak... "This is all my fault."

"No," Mattie immediately disagreed. "Mother could have just let you have that one and moved on to another. She still had two years to fill her quota, after all. _She_ decided to bury you, _she_ decided to take someone with a deeply rooted faith, and _she_ was the one who buried you in such a random spot that we didn't figure out where you were until it was too late."

Carmilla's eyes widened. "What?"

 

* * *

 

**December 31st, 1944**

**Silas University, Styria**

 

"What are you doing?" Somehow, Mattie just _knew_ she wasn't going to like the answer when she found Bree in Mother's study, looking over several maps.

Bree didn't even look up. "I thought you were at the New Year's celebration," she said, sounding almost annoyed.

That caught Mattie's attention immediately. Whether because she was so well-mannered or due to a need for acceptance, Bree was usually polite and respectful when she talked to her, or Mother. Really, the only one she didn't seem to like very much at all was their newest recruit, William Luce. (Truthfully, Mattie agreed with her entirely where he was concerned. He was only there because Trevor had slipped up and gotten himself killed by a human with a brain in New York back in the 20s, and they'd needed a new guy to act as bait.) "It was boring." Really, there were only so many times you could celebrate a new year before you'd seen pretty much all the possible variations. "Now, what are you doing? You know Mother doesn't like any of us being in here."

"Yes, I do. So maybe you could keep an eye out and let me know when she starts heading back?"

"Or I could start slamming you through the wall until you answer my question." She really didn't like being ignored, and having it come from the supposed 'replacement' for her beloved sister was all the worse.

Bree sighed impatiently and finally looked up at her, clearly realizing she wasn't going to be left alone until she talked. "I'm going through Mother's paperwork, as well as her files from previous sacrifices." Indeed, mixed in with the various maps scattered across the desk's surface were a number of file folders and notebooks.

Mattie's eyes widened. "Do you _want_ to die?" she asked, stunned. One did _not_ touch Mother's files, and one _absolutely did not_ touch her personal notes. There were _several_ rules against that.

Bree considered the question for all of two seconds. "If I knew for certain where my soul would be going? Maybe."

Having been raised by Benedictine nuns after the deaths of her family, Bree's faith was so much a part of her that even Mother hadn't been able to get rid of it. As such, Mattie knew that being what she was - an 'unholy abomination', as Bree herself had once put it, who was now injured by the artifacts of the very faith that she cherished - made her life a living hell. Had the girl not had the gall to try and take Mircalla's place, she might have had a bit more sympathy. "What could possibly be so important that you'd actually _defy_ Mother, to say nothing of risking bringing her wrath down on your head?"

"I'm trying to find where she buried Mircalla."

Mattie had been walking closer, to get a better look at what Bree was doing, but that simple sentence stopped her in her tracks, stunning her speechless. Bree was...? Why would she...? It took a little while, but she finally found her voice again. "Why?"

"Being buried like that, unable to move, unable to do _anything_ but lay there in the dark...? That's one of the most horrible things I can imagine. I don't care what she did to anger Mother, she doesn't deserve that. No one does. Plus..." Bree sighed, looking down. "I'm not stupid, Mattie," she said, looking at one of the maps without actually seeing it. "I _know_ she's the one everyone _wants_ here. Mother's favorite, yes? Maybe if you had her back... things would be better."

Bree being Bree, Mattie believed both of those reasons. "And maybe Mother would let you go?"

Bree looked up, giving her a ghost of a pained smile. "Do you _really_ think she'd do that? Especially after I disobeyed her like this?"

"In a manner of speaking. And given that you'd have saved someone from imprisonment, I have a fair idea of where your soul would go."

That earned her a definite smile, though far more sad. "Great. So, maybe you can help me? I didn't dare ask before, because, well..." She gestured around the study that Mattie herself had pointed out Mother didn't like them being in, especially unsupervised. "But you're here, so... Maybe this would go faster with two of us doing the looking?"

"Maybe it would," Mattie agreed, walking over to the desk. "I look forward to being able to introduce the two of you. Mircalla always liked the idea of having a younger sister."

Bree started, looking at her in surprise, and Mattie realized that had been the first time in a long while that she'd actually referred to Bree as her sister - and unprompted, no less. The blonde was smiling, just a little, as they got to work.

"How long have you been at this?" Mattie asked after a while. One of the notebooks on the crowded desktop was actually Bree's, and page after page of it was filled with notes and calculations, half-formed thoughts, and cryptic short questions. She clearly hadn't begun her little project that evening. "And how have you kept it hidden from Mother for so long?"

"I wanted to know what happened to her from the first time I heard anything about her," Bree admitted with a slight shrug. "It wasn't until the Great War broke out that Mother's invasions of my mind became infrequent enough for me to scrape together the idea to actually try and find her. I've had to be subtle about it, though. Patient. Waiting for any scraps of information. I'm sure _you_ know what I mean."

She did. Bree wasn't the only one who'd wanted to know where their missing sister was interred. Naturally, though, Mother had kept her on too short of a leash to actually _do_ anything about that. She hadn't even considered that Bree, the 'good girl' of the family, might be willing to break the rules so brazenly. Hopefully, neither had Mother. "Wish I'd known sooner that you were looking."

"Like I said..."

"Quite." She paused. "Why begin actively investigating now?"

"Allied bombing runs," Bree said succinctly.

Mattie felt a chill run down her spine. She didn't typically pay much attention to human politics, and their conflicts could at times be amusing, but rarely held her interest. (Nothing against them; she'd just seen too much death over the centuries to be affected by it, anymore.) A war of the current scale, however, was something different. Something new. This was a war that would affect even her and her family, particularly if the fighting wandered too close to Silas.

Somehow, though, she hadn't thought to extend that thought to Mircalla.

"You think she's in danger?" She skimmed through one of Mother's journals with greater urgency. She knew, as the Allies pressed closer and closer to Germany itself, strategic bombing was becoming more and more common in the surrounding areas, including Austria. She'd thought that was confined more to oil refineries and urban areas, however. She hadn't considered the rail lines that ran throughout the countryside.

"I think I'd rather err on the side of caution, in this case," Bree replied, and for once, Mattie agreed with her completely.

It was almost midnight - and Mattie was becoming increasingly nervous about what they were doing, with only her training keeping her from jumping at any unexpected noise her overly sensitive ears picked up, convinced Mother would happen upon them at any moment - by the time they'd identified what certainly seemed like a likely resting spot for Mircalla. It was also in Styria, and the idea that she'd been so close to Mircalla all along and not known it was maddening. It didn't matter, she told herself. If they were right, she knew where to find her sister now. Hopefully, Mother wouldn't have the heart to reinter her - as Bree had noted, Mattie wasn't the only one who missed her - otherwise Mattie would have to hide her, somehow. "Alright. It shouldn't take me more than two or three hours to get there, depending on road conditions." She'd rather just assume her avian form and fly, but she had to consider that, after so long, Mircalla might not be able to travel under her own power, and there might not be any locals around to feed from. As such, a vehicle was an unfortunate necessity.

Bree was frowning at the map. "That is _dangerously_ close to the front lines, the last I knew."

"I'll be careful."

"Oh, will you?" They both froze. "It would seem to be a bit late for that, wouldn't it?"

Mother was standing in the doorway, regarding the two of them impassively.

Bree looked at Mattie, eyes wide. Given that she was the family's good girl, she'd never really gotten in trouble with Mother, and as such clearly had no idea what to do. Fortunately for her, she wasn't the one Mother was focusing on. "Honestly, Matska. After all this time, I expect better than this from you. That you brought _Sabrina_ in on this little misadventure of yours... What did you promise her?"

Bree blinked, then opened her mouth, most likely to confess that it was the other way around, and _she_ was the one who'd brought Mattie into _her_ rule breaking. Because ducking the blame and letting Mattie take the fall wouldn't even occur to her. That was one thing that, for obvious reasons, Mother had never encouraged any of her children learn.

Mattie stepped forward and began speaking before Bree could even make a sound. "Is that really important?" she asked casually, doing her best to appear unconcerned. It wasn't easy - and likely wouldn't stand up to any intrusive mental scrutiny - but she'd had a lot of practice over the past centuries. However she personally felt about Bree, she wasn't about to throw anyone - especially someone who'd taken the risks she had to try and find Mircalla - to the wolves. Literally or metaphorically. (One could never tell how some situations would go, with Mother.) "You're back awfully late. I was starting to think you wouldn't get back in time to celebrate the new year with us."

Mother walked into the room, her expression still giving them nothing to work with. "Or did you perhaps hope I wouldn't?" she asked softly, and Mattie had to fight not to gulp audibly. It was never a good sign when Mother got quiet like that. "Having Sabrina request as many up-to-date records of the latest Allied bombing runs as I could get my hands on was a nice touch. I doubt I would have believed any of the rest of you really cared about the safety of our students." Sure enough, she was holding a thick manila folder, stuffed with papers.

Mattie's respect for Bree edged upward just a little. That had been fairly clever, and explained why she'd obviously believed she had plenty of time before Mother returned to search her study thoroughly.

"Oh, you did get them?" Bree had, at least, shaken off her paralysis, stepping toward Mother and reaching out to take the folder. She instead ended up tugging at it, Mother not letting it go. "Um, I need that, please," she said, tugging again.

Mother turned to look at her slowly, visibly reassessing the situation. That was really all they needed, Mattie thought dourly. "I wasn't aware you knew anyone within the Allied Command," she remarked, trying to bring Mother's attention back to her, at least until she could figure out a good way out of this situation.

"A concerned university president can get a lot of answers," Mother said vaguely, still looking at Bree, who hadn't let go of the folder. Mother abruptly released it, making Bree stagger back a step. Wasting no further time, she immediately began reading through the papers. Clearly, Mother had decided that giving her what she wanted was the most expedient way to find out what their goal was, and if Bree was as innocent as she'd believed.

Everything was like a chess game, with her. Make a small sacrifice now to help set up the checkmate later.

"Anything the rest of us need to know?" It took a lot of effort for Mattie to not look at Bree, who potentially held Mircalla's fate in her hands.

"Not really. The bombing seems to be moving farther north. Our German students will actually be safer here than they would at home." She seemed almost amused at the idea. All things considered, so was Mattie.

Almost.

Bree abruptly froze, then darted over to the desk, slapping the folder down on it and looking back and forth between whatever paper she'd been looking at and one of the maps. She scribbled out a few calculations, paused infinitesimally, then wrote them out again. And again.

That could _not_ be a good sign. "Bree?" Mattie asked, stomach sinking.

"Is there something you'd care to share?" Mother added, the same hint of satisfaction in her eyes that always appeared when she was about to win a game of chess.

The pencil Bree was holding snapped in her grip. "You _fool_ ," she said quietly, staring down at the desk.

Mattie's eyes bugged - one did _**not**_ insult Mother and get away with it, and she knew that hadn't been directed at _her_ \- and Mother's expression cooled even further. "Excuse me?"

"You complete and utter _**fool**_." Her head snapped up and she glared at Mother, an emotion Mattie didn't quite recognize glittering in her eyes. "Did you stop and think about her at all? Did it even _occur_ to you to get her out of harm's way?"

Mattie felt cold. _No, no, no, no, no..._

Mother looked _profoundly_ unamused. "What _are_ you talking about, Sabrina?"

"Mircalla. Or did you completely forget about her?"

"Of course I didn't." The hostility in her posture began seeping away, replaced by trepidation. "Why?"

Bree paused before answering. "I was really hoping I was imagining things, at first. That report, talking about a bombing meant to take out a train in Styria. It wasn't like they plotted out the coordinates of every crater, after all. But then it mentioned finding charred wooden remains, presumably from a coffin. It had taken a direct hit."

Mattie dropped down into the chair in front of the desk, while Mother grabbed onto the back of it, as if she needed help staying upright. Her expression was... blank. Not the mask of concealment she frequently wore, but just _nothing_.

Bree's eyes flashed with genuine anger. "You killed her," she accused. "You may as well have just staked her yourself, and saved her decades of torment."

Mother winced. That wasn't something Mattie had _ever_ seen her do before, but right then she was in no shape to appreciate it.

Looking disgusted, Bree stalked past them and headed for the door. She paused before she left, though. "Was it worth it?" she asked softly, not looking back. "Whatever lesson you were trying to teach Mircalla. Was it worth her life?"

She walked out, not bothering to wait for an answer. One wouldn't be forthcoming, in any event, Mother still looking stunned.

_You killed her._ The cold within her began crystallizing, hardening into something that might have been hatred. Bree was right. It was Mother's fault that Mircalla was dead. And she didn't yet know how, or when, but she _would_ make her pay for that.

Once and for all.

 

* * *

 

**2014**

 

For a long moment, Carmilla was honestly at a loss for words. "She was... trying to find me?" she eventually managed.

" _We_ were, yes," Mattie corrected mildly.

"Well, yeah, but I'd kind of expect that from you," Carmilla replied. "You probably started looking the first time Mother's attention wandered far enough, and kept at it every chance you got."

"She knew I would be, so she kept me on a short leash," Mattie said apologetically. "I wish..."

"Me, too." Carmilla smiled sadly. "But you were always there for me, ever since I was first changed. She'd never even met me. She _still_ hasn't, in fact."

"She might not have had your best interests in mind," Mattie warned. "Chances are you would have just wound up at Silas with the rest of us."

"I would _not_ have cared about the why, trust me." _Anything_ would have been preferable to that damned coffin. "So. That lead to your next attempt on Mother's life, I take it?"

"Of course. I would have staked her then and there if I thought I could have gotten away with it. But we both know she's not that easy to kill. I don't know if she has something that functions like my necklace, but... Well, you _know_ how many of us have tried killing her even during your lifetime."

"Too many," Carmilla agreed sadly. So many siblings lost...

"No matter how good of a chess player she is, statistically speaking, one of us should have at least come close, caused some kind of lasting damage. Even if only by accident."

"Well, she's never faced off against the kind of firepower _we_ have at our disposal." It was a little odd, talking to Mattie while using the word 'we' to reference a group that didn't include her. "I'll be in touch."

Mattie pulled her into another hug. "Please be careful, Mircalla. I don't think I could stand to lose you twice."

"I will." Or as careful as she could bring herself to be, given the circumstances.

Mattie let go and stepped back. "And be careful if you approach Bree. Just because _I_ don't blame you for what happened to her, that doesn't necessarily mean that _she_ won't."

Oh, good. Because things hadn't been nearly complicated enough, already. "I'll keep that in mind."


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

The news, as far as Carmilla was concerned, was both good and bad. It was disappointing that Mattie wouldn't be actively helping them... but, if she was being honest with herself, she hadn't _really_ expected that to happen. She'd known Mother would have had some method of keeping Mattie under control, though she hadn't expected this one. (In retrospect, she probably should have, as it _was_ the easiest and most obvious method of reining Mattie in.)

However, not only had she gotten to reconnect with her sister (which would have made the trip worth it to her all by itself), they'd also gained valuable intelligence on the situation. "There's just one thing I don't understand," she said to Mattie before she left.

" _One_ thing?" Hellboy echoed dryly.

"Why are _you_ the Mayor?" she continued, ignoring him. "Even setting aside how much you don't care for politics, why would Mother want you here? This job technically gives you power over her, and people will eventually notice you're not aging."

"Technicalities aren't worth much, in this case," Mattie replied, lips thinned with annoyance that was obviously directed at their Mother. "With the abilities she's grown over the millennia, as well as magical knowledge she's picked up, she can use my necklace to do more than just threaten to kill me. You can only make that threat so many times before it starts losing effectiveness, after all. Inflicting pain extends that time considerably. Also, I suspect my distaste for politics is precisely _why_ I was given this job. Besides, one of us had to be Mayor - she'd never allow the highest local authority to not be under her direct control - and I'm one of the only ones who _look_ old enough. We switch off now and then. I have another decade left before I get to stand down, I think."

"Not if I have anything to say about it," Carmilla promised. She gave her sister another quick hug, then she and her teammates left the office, heading back toward the exit.

"Well, that was... somewhat less than productive," Abe decided once they were outside.

"Somewhat, maybe," Carmilla allowed. "Though given Mother's skill at chess, that's not a surprise. Still, it wasn't a wasted visit. We've confirmed the number of victims so far, learned more about how deeply Mother's tendrils of control go in this town, discovered that Mother _does_ believe I'm dead, and we even got some info about Laura's roommate. I'm sure there are others, but Bree and Will are the only two of my 'siblings' on campus that we know about, and he seems to be more involved in the actual abductions, so we might want to focus more on him." She smirked at Hellboy. "You might want to suggest that to Mister Thorne; I know he's your _favorite_ member of our team, so I'm sure _you'll_ want to be the one to talk to him."

He gave her the Look that statement deserved, and she fought down a grin. "And where are _you_ going to be?" He knew her well enough to have picked up on the signs of her restlessness, even if she'd been trying to hide them, so he wasn't surprised that she didn't seem to plan on heading back with them.

She didn't bother wasting their time by denying it. "I'm gonna go for a walk, take in the town. Further establish my cover as 'Carmen the tourist'. Not that there seems to be much to see, but what can you do?" Besides, the longer she stayed in their company, the more attention she was likely to attract, and they all knew it.

She wasn't going to head to Silas. Sneaking a visit with Mattie was one thing, but trying _that_ would make it almost certain that Mother would find out about her. Like she'd told Hellboy and Abe (more than once, over the years), Mother was _very_ good at chess. They had a chance to actually catch her off guard, for once, and she was _not_ going to waste it.

But, she decided as she walked off down the sidewalk, that didn't mean she couldn't do anything to learn more about what was going on. Hollis had tweeted earlier that morning about how she really did need to go grocery shopping, if only to stock up on food to offer guests that was actually food. A quick check on her phone showed that Hollis- that _Laura_ had just headed out on her shopping trip about five or six minutes ago. There were only so many grocery stores in Trofaiach, and since Laura was on foot, Carmilla could guess which one she was going to be at. If she hurried, she could catch her before she was done.

(And if she planned on talking to her, she knew she really had to try and make sure she remembered to use the girl's first name. Judging by her videos, while some of her friends seemed to prefer their last names be used, Laura wasn't one of them.)

Trofaiach was a nice enough town, she supposed. At least, on the surface; she hadn't exactly forgotten that Mother was pulling the strings. Though, given how little regard Mother held for humans, chances were she didn't care what they did as long as it didn't interfere with any of her interests, so the rest of the town might actually be as quaint as it seemed.

There were modern elements all over, as there were most everywhere that wasn't some kind of historical site, these days. It could be a little depressing, if she really thought about it, but she could hardly blame people for wanting to keep up with the times. Progress happened for a reason, after all, and just trying to ignore it would be silly. (It also helped keep her grounded, remembering when and where she was, as well as why she was there.)

Laura, apparently unable to stay away from social media for longer than a few minutes at a time (when not in class), had sent a few more tweets as she shopped, even soliciting Perry's opinion on what constituted "appropriate" drinks and snacks for guests. (Perry, it seemed, was the go to person when it came to food or manners in the dorm. Part of her job as 'Floor Don'? Carmilla had no idea.) Perry had responded with a _flood_ of tweets full of suggestions, advising Laura to pick and choose based on who she expected to come over most. Not terribly subtly, she then mentioned a few items that she'd seen Danny eating now and again.

Carmilla took a few shortcuts, taking a moment to be glad that she'd not only had occasion to exchange some money into local currency, but had also studied a map of the town during the flight. The directions provided by her phone were well and good, but not quite as helpful when one was walking.

She winced slightly at the glare of the fluorescent lighting, and was briefly tempted to pull out her sunglasses. She grabbed one of the red plastic baskets and began scanning the aisles. The store was a bit bigger than she might have expected, though a moment's thought told her that was due to the proximity of Silas; no doubt most of the students shopped there. (Idly, she wondered if the vampires in town - those _not_ at Silas, anyway, such as Mattie - could pick up prepackaged blood there, too.) She occasionally grabbed an item or two - it would have looked suspicious if she left without buying anything, but the houses kitchens' were already stocked, so there was no point in wasting her money in filling up a cart with food. It had been a while since she'd had any German chocolate, though, so she could hardly resist.

As she'd kind of suspected, she found Laura in the snack food aisle.

She didn't approach her right away. Instead, she walked past her, studying the various bags of chips. (Laura was looking at the snack cakes, likely torn between her natural desire to fill her cart with them and Perry's list of far healthier alternatives.) After a few moments, she paused, then turned to look carefully at Laura, as if she'd only just registered what she'd seen. She took a few steps closer, maintaining her scrutiny, then asked, "Wait, are you... Laura Hollis?"

Laura started, clearly not having seen her. "Um, yes." She didn't seem to know how to react to being recognized, so at least she wasn't automatically assuming it was a good thing. "I'm... sorry, do I know you?"

"Not for lack of effort on my part, Cutie," she replied with a sly half-smile.

The nickname finally clued her in. "Oh! Carmen?"

"In the flesh. Though I can hardly blame you for wondering if I was some thirty-something loser living in his Mom's basement." Or unholy creature of the night, out for her blood.

"I didn't think... _that_... exactly." Whether what she'd imagined was better or worse was unknown. Laura shook her head. "Well, it's nice to meet you, though you probably could have picked a better time to visit our little town."

"Yeah, I've been keeping up with your videos." Carmilla carefully affected an attitude of unconcern. "The BPRD's on the scene, now, right? I'm sure they'll have things under control soon enough."

"I hope so." Laura, not knowing Hellboy and the others as well as she did, wasn't entirely convinced. Carmilla supposed that was fair. "I just hope the girls will still be alive when they find them."

Carmilla didn't want to admit it, but that _was_ a legitimate worry. She had no idea what happened to the girls when her Mother took them. It was entirely possible they were dead already. She had to cling to the belief that, if this _was_ a sacrifice, they'd all be sacrificed at the same time, and there still wasn't a fifth. "Me, too, Cupcake. From what I've heard, though, if the BPRD can't protect those girls, you can be damn well sure that they'll avenge them." If Laura was as big of a nerd as she came across as in her videos...

Sure enough, a smile stole across her face, and she couldn't quite suppress a quiet squeal of happiness. "Point taken," she said, trying her best to at least pretend to be dignified. "Why come here, though? I mean, I live here. You could have gone around, stopped by some town where girls _aren't_ being mysteriously abducted by forces unknown."

"Could've," Carmilla agreed with a (deliberately calculated) careless shrug. She didn't like how easily her old training came back to her, or needing to use it on Laura, but until the girl stopped broadcasting everything related to the investigation for all to see, she didn't dare reveal who she really was. (She _had_ contemplated taking Laura aside and explaining, giving her contact info for the BPRD for anything she might learn under the condition she _not_ broadcast anything they didn't want her to. Somehow, though, she just _knew_ Laura would never go for that. She wanted to be a reporter, not a secret agent.) "What can I say? This was just too interesting to pass up. Besides, I seem to recall saying if I swung through town I'd take you out for hot chocolate." Her voice took on a flirtatious tone that wasn't _entirely_ feigned - not that she'd ever admit it - as she added, "And I never break a promise that involves... chocolate."

Laura looked momentarily flustered. (It probably would have been worse if Carmilla had been in her usual leather pants, but since Liz didn't wear those, neither could she, today. The black T-shirt and camo pants seemed to be affecting Laura plenty, now that she was looking.) "That's a wise policy," she said, rallying. "I can't today - I have a class in about an hour, which should give me _just_ enough time to finish here and get my groceries put away - but if you're gonna be in town for a while, I'll absolutely take a rain check on that."

"Don't really have anywhere else to be for a while," Carmilla said with a shrug. "Let me see your phone; I'll give you my number."

Somewhat hesitant, Laura fished her phone out of her pocket. (Remembering her second video, Carmilla was careful not to seem to judge her on it; she knew all-too-well what it was like to have a overly controlling parent.) Carmilla plucked it out of her hands, quickly adding her (fake) name and number. She quickly sent a text to herself from it, so that she'd be able to recognize Laura's number, should she actually call or text herself. (She wasn't about to just take it for granted that she would, given what she knew Laura and Danny were getting up to when the camera wasn't running.) "Well, when you find a time that works for you, let me know where you want to meet," she said, placing Laura's phone back in her pocket... and lingering right next to her, her hand on Laura's hip. "I'm sure you know _exactly_ where to go for hot chocolate," she added, maintaining a steady eye contact.

Laura froze. For a long moment, they simply stood there, staring at each other. "I, uh... Well, I-I know some places, yeah," Laura finally managed, seeming to reboot her brain. "And what are you going to be getting up to between then and now?"

"Hm." She smiled. She stepped back, which seemed to help significantly with Laura's ability to process information. "Well, I have to keep some of my secrets. Otherwise, I'll lose my air of mystery, won't I?" She turned and headed off down the aisle.

Her smile widened when she heard, behind her, "Was that...? Were you just flir...?"

She decided she'd leave that part out of her report to Kate, later.

 

* * *

 

It was funny, Laura mused. As much as she might not appreciate people just barging into her room like they lived there, being there by herself was just weird, somehow. And maybe that _was_ partly because she was missing Danny. She understood why Danny hadn't been able to stop by - it had started with cleaning up (only metaphorically, thank goodness) after the whole 'mobile compost heap' incident, then spiraled into other Summer-related business - but that didn't mean she didn't want to see her...

Actually, what _were_ they? Could she call Danny her girlfriend? She wanted to, but usually when they were together (and not making out), they were working on the whole missing girls thing, and asking about their relationship status in the middle of that didn't really seem appropriate.

After Carmen's flirtations, though, she really needed to know. If only so she could be completely truthful when she said she had a girlfriend to try and discourage any further such comments.

(Though, she had to admit, having someone who looked like _that_ be interested in her hardly hurt her ego.)

In the meantime, she was recording another video. She didn't exactly have a _lot_ of new information, but she also didn't really have anything else to be doing (for once, she was all caught up on her classwork), and making the videos had become something of a habit. "Good evening. Danny had to hit an emergency Summer Society meeting, so it's just me today. 'But Laura', you might be saying. 'Isn't the BPRD on the case, now? Why are you still making videos at all?' And you would be right, gentle viewer, but since they're not exactly keeping me in the loop as to what they do and don't know, I wouldn't exactly have any way of getting information to them otherwise. Besides, I still have a Journalism project to complete, and I'm not about to let all of you down after you offered to help sort out the weirdness that is Silas."

She tapped out a few commands on her keyboard, pulling up some of the pictures she and Danny had painstakingly looked through. "Now, I don't think anyone was near _all_ of the girls at _every_ party - which says that not only are we dealing with someone who's smart enough not to be that obvious, we're likely dealing with _multiple_ kidnappers. Because, clearly, one wasn't enough. The only person we managed to find in more than one place he shouldn't be was Kirsch's 'bro', Will. If he _is_ a vampire... Well, having seen a little of what Bree can do, confronting him seems like an amazingly bad idea. Not that I wouldn't pay real money to see him try his luck with Hellboy." She had no idea how fast or strong Hellboy _really_ was, but somehow, she just couldn't see a punk like Will getting the better of him. "As things stand now..." She trailed off as she became aware of a noise in the background, faint but growing. It sounded almost like... chanting?

"What the...?" She hadn't wished for anything to happen so that she'd have something exciting to talk about in her video. She'd been careful about that. What good was it to not tempt fate if that sort of thing just happened anyway?

Before she could wonder too much about it, Danny burst through her door, then hurriedly shut and locked it behind her. "Are you okay? Did they try to get in?" she asked breathlessly.

"Who are 'they'?" Laura countered, confused. Hadn't Danny been busy with Summer Society-related matters?

"The Zetas," Danny replied, walking closer and sitting down on the edge of Laura's bed. "They were trying to walk the women's swim team home from the gym, but then one of the girls called us for help. But then someone shoved someone, and now it's turned into this big turf war over who'll protect the gym or the track or who _knows_ what else! I didn't know if it had made it this far; I had to know if you were okay."

Laura was touched. A little surprised, maybe, since that was a little more intense than she was used to from Danny, but touched. (She was also a little worried about the whole turf war thing that Danny seemed to be trying to gloss over.) "Oh, wow. That's..." She frowned, her mind finally registering something, and leaned closer. "Why are you wearing warpaint?"

Danny looked at her like _that_ was the odd question to be asking, but a rapid series of knocks on the door kept her from having to answer it. "Hey, little nerd! Laura! Are you in there?"

Oh, perfect. This was _all_ she needed. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," she grumbled, getting up and heading for the door.

"Laura? Laura!" Danny was immediately on her feet. "What are you _doing_?!"

"It's only Kirsch," she said as she unlocked the door. (She made a mental note to lock it more often, though, now that she knew for a fact that the lock actually worked.) Really, if there was anyone in Zeta Omega Mu that she _knew_ wasn't a threat... "We're fine," she told him as she opened the door.

"I was really worried about you, because-" That was all he got to say, because then Danny grabbed him by the ear, dragging him into the room and tossing him at Laura's bed. "Whoa! Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Danny, what the _hell_?!" Laura exclaimed, aghast. She shut the door mostly by reflex, though she was pretty sure no one who saw a Summer and Zeta fighting would be terribly surprised. _She_ was, but only because of Danny's unprovoked assault on a clearly harmless Kirsch.

"Come on, why are the hotties in this room always trying to hurt me?!" he demanded.

"Karma?" Danny suggested.

"Uncool, Summer Psycho. Not Mark of Kingsbury rules."

Danny looked tempted to smack him, but, possibly remembering Laura's reaction from before, refrained. "Okay, first of all, it's _Marquess of Queensbury_ , and secondly, that's boxing, dumbass." She shook her head, then turned to Laura. "I can't believe you let him in here. For all you know, he was trying to take this dorm for the Zetas!"

"Hey, we're just trying to protect hot people," Kirsch objected.

"The only threat to the girls in this dorm are you and your fratdaddy frats," Danny told him heatedly.

Yeeeaaaahhh... This wasn't going to end well, Laura could sense it. "Okay, maybe we should just..."

"That is unfair, okay?" Kirsch said, ignoring her as he stood up. "'Cause I'm here out of the, like, bro-ness of my heart, alright? I'm not even trying to hook up, 'cause I got a girlfriend, alright? So why is everyone so pissed at us because we're trying to keep the campus safe?"

"Because safe for you goons does not mean safe for everyone else!" Danny immediately shot back.

Really, she would have hoped that _Danny_ at least would listen to her. "Okay, no, no, seriously..."

"If you weren't such a hottie, you'd be in big, big trouble."

Danny pushed Kirsch onto the bed and adopted a fighting stance. "Bring it, popped collar."

Okay, that was it. " _Enough_ , already!" Laura burst out, startling the two of them so much she had to wonder if they'd forgotten she was even there. "Stop. This. Now! Look, I get it, okay? You both wanna protect the campus. You don't seem to realize, though, that right now, what we need protecting from is _you!_ "

Danny looked at her in shock. "Laura..."

"No! You've both had your say, now it's my turn to talk!" She shook her head, disgusted. "You're worried he's here to 'take this dorm'? Well, as a resident of the dorm in question, let me assure you that we can't be _taken_ by anyone on either side," Laura snapped. "Do you guys just view the rest of us as things to fight over, or something? 'We get to protect the swim team!' 'No way, they're _ours_! We saw them first!' Nevermind what _we_ have to say about all this!"

Kirsch shifted uncomfortably. "Um..."

"So, great protectors that you are, has it even occurred to you that while you're duking it out, nobody is actually out there protecting anybody at all?! Because the actually useful thing to do might be to skip the smackdown in the middle of my bedroom and go talk some sense into the idiots _setting fire_ to security carts over who gets to _protect people_!"

There was a moment of stunned silence.

"I knew from the first day of English Lit that you were smart," Kirsch declared. To Danny, he added, "She is so smart."

"Yes, she is," Danny agreed, making that the first time a Summer and Zeta had agreed on anything that Laura knew about.

Kirsch, sadly, didn't seem to know when not to press his luck. "And a hottie," he continued. "That's-"

"Aaaaand it's time for you to go, now," Danny decided, shoving him toward - and then out - the door. She paused before leaving. "Laura, are you sure you're gonna be alright by yourself? I know you don't see him as a threat, but where you find Kirsch, Will usually isn't that far away. And if Bree's out for the evening..."

"I'll be fine," Laura promised her. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll even leave the camera on, just in case he tries anything sneaky - though I doubt he really cares what _I_ think about him. Honestly, I think I should be more worried about _you_ right now, turf war and all."

Danny waved off her concerns. "Ah, it's mostly just paintballs and anchovies. I'll talk 'em down."

Laura stepped closer. "Still... Be careful?"

"For you? Absolutely." Danny leaned down and gave her a kiss that made her tingle all over, then left, shutting the door tightly behind her.

Not even caring about the camera, Laura allowed herself a dreamy sigh, leaning against the door with a goofy smile on her face.

Riots aside, this was shaping up to be a pretty good night.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

"Riots?" Carmilla echoed, surprised. "I didn't think the majority of the student body was all _that_ worked up about the missing girls."

"I'm not sure that they are," Kate admitted. "This seemed to have been more due to the tension between Zeta Omega Mu and the Summer Society."

"Right. Because, hey, girls being kidnapped by the forces of darkness? That's the perfect time to squabble over territory." Carmilla shook her head in disgust. "Good to see they know what's important." It really was too early in the day for this sort of nonsense, she thought. And yeah, okay, so maybe it was late morning. Between her vampiric nature and the feline traits that bled across from her primary shapeshifted from, she could happily sleep until afternoon, if she was allowed to. Sadly, she was pretty sure that wasn't going to happen often - if at all - until the current mission was completed. (Kate's habit of having morning briefings wasn't going to help, she was sure.)

"Things do, at least, seem to have settled down, though from what I understand, not without a fair bit of damage around campus." Kate flipped through the stack of papers in front of her. The two of them, along with Leach and Thorne, were seated at the kitchen table. (The dining room had been taken over by the techies they'd brought along, the table buried under a number of computers and other expensive pieces of equipment. The dining room in Team A's rented house, as she understood it, had been turned into a sort of emergency medical lab, which she hoped they wouldn't be needing... but she wasn't quite optimistic enough to really believe that.) "Predictably, the Dean isn't happy, though there hasn't been any carnage, yet."

"Yet." That would come, Carmilla knew. It always had. "So, are we thinking that she doesn't want to let that take up too much of her attention and risk missing something we do, or that she might get distracted by 'chastising' the students involved, giving us an opportunity? Because if it's the latter, I'd suggest extreme caution. Back when I knew her, that was just the sort of trap she was all too happy to let us fall into."

"True. On the other hand, she'll be expecting us to make _some_ kind of move. If we don't, she might start wondering why." Because they weren't _supposed_ to know who she was, were they? "As far as she knows, though, Hellboy's team is working alone."

"Gotcha." Or, in other words, Hellboy would give her what she was expecting, while Carmilla herself was able to operate behind the scenes. Red _was_ pretty good at being loud and obvious, when he wanted to be. "What's he going to be doing?"

"Wandering around the campus, asking questions, poking his nose where it probably shouldn't be..."

"...and irritating Mother more and more with his intrusions?" She couldn't completely keep a smile off of her face. "I'm actually kind of sorry I won't get to see that." Something occured to her, and her smile widened a bit as she added, "Any chance we could sneak Laura a GoPro or something? I'm sure she'd be willing to help."

Kate didn't laugh, but couldn't quite keep the amusement off her face. "Maybe so, but I'd rather keep Miss Hollis out of this as much as possible."

"Um, Professor Corrigan?" Agent Leach began, staring down at his phone. "That... _may_ be a bit difficult."

"She posted another video?" Carmilla guessed - correctly, as it turned out. "Does that girl not sleep?"

"Funny you should say that..." He unmuted the video, went back to the beginning, and turned his phone around so they could all see it. (Carmilla would rewatch it later on her computer, of course, to make sure she didn't miss any details - she was pretty sure Kate would be doing the same - but she could see and hear enough to know what was going on in it.)

"Okay, while Hellboy's there today, have him give her a number or something," Carmilla decided after listening to Laura's latest comment about her inability to contact the BPRD. "If only to get her to shut up about it."

"I'll pass the suggestion along," Kate said distractedly.

"Good." Carmilla raised an eyebrow at Lawrence's rather violent reaction to Kirsch's presence... and smirked at her correction regarding the Marquess of Queensbury. "Hmm. Good to see that the teachers at Silas aren't neglecting actually educating their students inbetween sacrificing them and snacking on them," she commented. Though she supposed Lawrence could have learned that in grade school.

She just didn't care.

When Laura finally lost her temper, Carmilla couldn't stop a chuckle. "Oh, she is _feisty_ , isn't she?" she asked, a smile creeping back onto her face.

Kate sighed, looking briefly upward as if seeking help from on high. "Oh, here we go..."

"Don't start with me, Kate."

Okay. So Laura clearly intended to keep making her videos. They'd never said she couldn't, and as long as she wasn't placing herself in danger investigating, they really _couldn't_ say anything about it. Still, she wasn't sure what it was that had Leach so worried... until Laura interrupted the sped-up footage of herself sleeping.

"Okay. There was nothing there. Because I left the stupid camera on and I've looked through all the surveillance..." Even barely illuminated by her computer monitor, she plainly looked disturbed. "There was nothing here. It just seemed so real. Like... like that weird moment of clarity during magic hour, or the moment right before a car crash. I was in my room and there was something in my bed. Something under my bed. This dark, prowling thing without a face. And then it was this little girl crying. I tried to pull the blankets over my face to hide but the darkness started seeping through them like blood, more and more, until I was drowning in it." There was a long pause, then some kind of scuttling noise, and Laura turned around... and the video ended.

"Maybe Red can also suggest she quit it with the cliffhangers?" Carmilla suggested, because it was easier to focus on that than what she'd just seen. What it _meant_.

Because some of the specifics didn't match anything she remembered, but enough did for her to know what was happening: the dreams had started. The same night terrors that Natalie had suffered from, which Laura was sure to pick up on sooner or later. They'd already known she was a likely candidate for sacrifice - they'd known that ever since Bree had walked into the room - but she'd really hoped that they'd gotten there in time, that having them focus on Laura so much would cause Mother to move on to another, giving them more time.

The Dean of Silas, it seemed, would not be intimidated, even by someone with Hellboy's reputation.

Carmilla could only hope she'd come to regret that lack of concern.

 

* * *

 

It hadn't been easy to fall back asleep after the horrible dream she'd been having. She'd finally managed it, though... only to have _more_ nightmares.

She'd practically sleepwalked through her first class.

"Maybe you should go down to Student Health Services," Bree suggested, watching her with concern as she staggered back into their room.

"I'm fine," Laura muttered, smacking her knee against her bedframe and nearly falling down when she didn't stop in time while trying to drop off her bag.

"Yes, clearly," Bree said dryly.

"I am."

"Oh, so those aren't bags under your eyes? Perhaps we should invite one of the cheerleaders here to give you makeup tips, if that's eye liner and concealer."

"Funny." Laura shook herself more awake... or tried to, anyway. "I just need some caffeine. And sugar." Something occurred to her. "Don't tell Perry."

"Did you sleep _at all_ last night?" Bree asked, not commenting on her request. Laura could only hope that meant she wouldn't say anything to the Floor Don - Perry took nutritional health _very_ seriously.

"Barely," Laura admitted. Even as tired as she was, she could tell she wasn't fooling Bree in the slightest, so she gave up trying. "Had some really squicky dreams."

Silence.

"...dreams." Something about Bree's tone managed to get through the fog in her head, and Laura turned to look at her... and promptly wavered on her feet, nearly losing her balance. Bree was suddenly _there_ , helping her sit down before she could fall. Laura took advantage of her proximity to get a better look at her, and realized something: she wasn't surprised. Bree didn't look at all happy about what she was saying, but she also wasn't confused as to what kind of dream could possibly have been so disturbing.

"You know something," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"So would you, if you weren't so tired," Bree replied. She shook her head. "How did one evening of missed sleep leave you so out of it?"

"One night of no sleep, plus a few more of very little due to researching and editing," Laura admitted. "I even managed to get another video up last night while I _wasn't_ sleeping. Now, what do you mean?"

Bree sighed, then walked over to her desk (it was over in the far corner, out of sight of Laura's camera, and where Bree had taken to sitting and working while she was present for Laura filming any videos) and rummaged through one of her drawers until she found a tiny plastic bottle, then walked back and handed it to Laura. "Here, this should help a little, at least for now."

Laura squinted at the tiny black bottle she was holding and couldn't stop a muted chuckle."Extra Strength Five-Hour Energy?" She raised an eyebrow at Bree. "Is this imported? I don't think I've ever seen it in any stores in town."

"Possibly. I found a few bottles of it in Mister Kirsch's bag. He never came back for it after I removed him that first day," Bree explained at Laura's inquisitive look. "I had William give him back the alcoholic beverages; apparently, he was satisfied with that."

"Or he was too scared to argue about it," Laura muttered.

"Perhaps. In any event, since that's hardly suitable to seducing any girls on campus, it was likely for his own use. As such, the grape flavor is likely a coincidence." She paused, then added, "I, um, ate the biscuits."

Laura chuckled. "Well, I forgot about them, so they would have been stale by now if you hadn't." She twisted the tiny cap off the bottle, breaking the seal, then drank the energy shot. The caffeine rush hit her quickly, and she sucked in a breath in surprise. "Wow. When they say 'extra strength', they're not kidding."

Bree studied her for a long moment, then nodded, looking satisfied. "Okay. Will you be alright here for a little bit while I run an errand?" They both knew Laura didn't have another class for a little over an hour, and if she fell asleep - and wasn't woken up by another nightmare - she'd never be able to get up in time, no matter how many alarms she set.

Laura thought about it. "I think so, yeah." Unless that product was very inaccurately named, she should be okay for the next five-ish hours, she thought. "Where are you going?"

"To see if I can't find you something to help you with your dreams."

Laura blinked in surprise. "You can-" Something occurred to her. "You know, you never did answer me, before," she said, interrupting herself.

"I know." Bree headed for the door. "I'll try not to be long."

Laura sighed as she left. "What do I need to do to get her to answer a question, unplug my camera so that she _knows_ I'm not filming?"

"Couldn't hurt," Bree called from the hall.

Oh, right. Vampiric hearing. She really had to remember that.

 

* * *

 

"Sabrina, what are you doing?"

"I need something." She didn't look up from the drawer she was searching through. She knew what she'd find, and didn't really want to see it. She could _feel_ Mother looking at her, face carefully devoid of expression, eyes flat and cold. She felt nervous enough just imagining it; actually seeing it might well paralyze her on the spot.

Mother had conditioned them all to react that way to certain glares, whether she was mentally influencing them at the time or not.

"Because just barging into Mother's study without permission and rooting around always works out so well?" Mother being there was bad enough; she could have done without William's presence.

"I am doing no such thing." She ignored his scoff.

"I asked you a question, Sabrina."

 _That_ , however, she couldn't ignore. "I'm looking for something that blocks external psychic influence." Then, to preempt the question she knew was coming, she continued, "Laura's started having the dreams."

"So?" Will asked scornfully. "Don't tell me you've started _caring_ about her."

Bree actually stopped and straightened up with an exasperated sigh, turning and looked at Mother while gesturing vaguely at him.

Mother actually gave her a brief look of understanding - they both knew Will wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, and that Bree had trouble maintaining her patience with him, sometimes - before turning to Will and explaining, "Given that Miss Hollis has already managed to summon the BPRD to Silas and shows no signs of ceasing to make her videos, we hardly need to give her access to _more_ information to pass on to them, do we?"

"...ah. Yeah, that's... I guess not." He shrank a bit under the twin glares he was getting.

Bree let him fidget awkwardly for a little longer - she wasn't proud of it, but she felt that he deserved far worse, so she didn't feel all that guilty about it, either - then offered him an escape. "Speaking of the BPRD, was that Hellboy I saw going into the Shunned House on my way here?"

He took it gratefully. "Yeah. He showed up this morning, going around and asking _a lot_ of questions."

Bree resumed her search. "I suppose I should be grateful he hasn't come looking for me, yet." Being Laura's roommate, she knew _that_ wouldn't last indefinitely.

"Guess you've been putting on a good show in her videos."

"If so, at least _some_ good's coming from them." Wait, was that...? It was! She smiled as she picked up a bracelet of multicolored gemstones, mostly greens and blues of varying shades, with a few black stones thrown in, as if just to vary the pattern. It felt warm, all but vibrating in her hand.

Mother was studying her. "Sabrina..."

"I know." The Charm of Maugris might well be overkill, but it would unquestionably do what she wanted it to. "It's not like any of really _need_ to mesmerize her, though, and it _will_ keep the girl in the nightdress and any others that might try to warn her from invading her mind." After a pause, she added, "From what I know of it, the charm won't block any magical means of invading her mind that also have a physical anchor, will it?" Because she'd seen Mother make use of a necklace charm of her own, in the past, and knew she liked to have that option available to her, should she feel like making use of it.

"No, it won't."

"Then there's no problem with me giving it to Laura?" She needed to be sure Mother was okay with it, after all. "Since it's one of a kind, I'll have a good reason for not being able to make enough for everyone she might want to give them to."

Mother was silent for another long moment, then acceded with a nod.

Bree carefully didn't sigh with relief. "Okay, then. I'll get out of your way, so you can get back to what you were doing." Which, from what she'd heard before walking into the study, was lecturing Will on the need to be more careful in avoiding detection - something that Laura's videos proved he needed to learn.

"Thanks," he said sarcastically. Bree hid a smile as she left, Mother chiding him for his impertinent attitude. She didn't relax until she was outdoors again, though she knew even that wouldn't be enough to block out Mother, should she _really_ want in. The Charm wouldn't, either, or Mother never would have let her take it. She'd explained her reasoning, though, and even Mother knew that she didn't lie, so she'd let it go.

Of course, just because she didn't lie, that didn't mean she couldn't hide things. Mother was confident that her latest 'adjustment session' hadn't worn off yet - and that was true - but she didn't seem to realize that it technically hadn't worn off when she'd disobeyed instructions while trying to find Mircalla, either. In this case, she didn't have any ulterior motives from what she'd told Mother.

She simply appreciated being able to have options open to her down the road, was all.

Just in case.

 

* * *

 

Bree hadn't been gone for very long, so Laura raised an eyebrow as she looked up from the book she was reading (one of the 'special Silas editions' for her Lit class) as the vampire entered the room. "That was fast," she commented.

"I had a pretty good idea of where to look," Bree replied. Laura was sitting at her desk - even with caffeine, she'd been worried she might fall asleep if she stayed on her bed - so she wasn't overly surprised by the suspicious look Bree shot her camera before determining that it wasn't recording. (It wasn't, of course; just her sitting there reading wasn't exactly exciting enough to film.) Bree sat down at the foot of her bed and pulled Laura's left arm toward her. "Here, this should help," she said, slipping a (pretty, Laura had to admit) bracelet onto it.

Understandably, that didn't really explain anything to Laura. "Um... thanks? I mean, it looks nice and all, but..."

"It's a charm," Bree explained. "The Charm of Maugris, in fact. You can look him up later, if you want - I know how much you enjoy research - but the short version is that he was an enchanter in King Charlemagne's court. That charm blocks external psychic influence like those dreams... or vampiric mesmerism, for that matter."

"You've never..."

"No, I haven't. But others might, and while you're wearing that, they can't."

"Oh. Um, thank you." If it was that kind of magical, that explained why it felt so strange against her skin, she supposed. "So... Mesmerism. That's really a thing, huh?"

"Yes, though it can take some time to get any good at it. I hope you'll forgive me if I don't ask you to take the charm off so I can demonstrate."

Laura smiled, just a little. "That's quite alright, believe me."

"I thought it might be."

"Funny how you just happened to know where to go to find something to stop those dreams I was having - and that you knew something aside from my study diet of frosted filled treats and grape soda was causing it."

"I watched your most recent video," Bree admitted. "That description sounded rather familiar."

"You mean it kinda sounded like the dreams that Natalie was having right before she got... pod peopled?" Because she _had_ managed to get her brain in gear, finally realizing the obvious. (She'd also had a few people on Twitter point it out to her, though in her defense, she _had_ managed to figure it out herself, first.)

"Yes."

"So... I'm next." She couldn't keep from shaking a little as she said it.

"Not if the BPRD figures out what's going on before that can happen," Bree offered. "Hellboy's on campus right now, asking questions."

"Right." She clung to that idea. "They'll figure it out."

"There is one thing I'm curious about, though."

"What's that?"

"'The moment right before a car crash'?"

For a long moment, Laura froze. Eventually, she managed to push the memories away. "I don't wanna talk about that right now," she said, giving Bree a significant look. "Possibly ever."

It took a second, but Bree did seem to recognize the reference to her own tweet regarding whatever abbey she'd been talking about, which had been the last she'd ever communicated on the subject. "I understand." And Laura was pretty sure that she really did: If Bree wanted to know about that, she was going to have to open up to Laura about her own painful past. "Perhaps another day."

"Fair enough." She wasn't in any shape to even be _thinking_ about that right now, let alone _talking_ about it. When she was fully rested, however... "Don't worry, it would be an 'off the record' conversation."

"Good to know." She stood up, grabbing her backpack. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to shortly."

Laura looked at the time, shrugged, and stood up as well. "So do I." Well, sort of. It wasn't for almost half an hour, but she could sit around reading there as easily as she could in her room. "I'll head out with you. If that's okay, I mean." The General Class building, where she was heading, was practically right next to Rosetta Hall (she was pretty sure Bree's class was on Latin, or something like that), but she knew Bree might not want her company. She did, sometimes, enjoy going off by herself, and Laura didn't want to impinge upon her privacy.

She needn't have worried. "Of course it's fine with me," Bree told her, smiling. Her smile became a tad mischievous as she added, "I'm sure Danny would be glad to know you weren't walking around by yourself, too."

"Very funny," Laura said dourly.

The worst part was knowing that Bree was probably right.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** So, as a side note, the prologue of the _Summer Storm_ prequel was posted a couple of days ago. (I decided to go with that story next since, during the writing of _Summer Storm_ , there was a fair bit of interest displayed in it.) For those of you who aren't interested in that, you don't need to worry too much, since I don't think it'll be TOO long. Still, while it lasts, I hope it entertains some of you at least a little.

 

* * *

 

 

For all that the Shunned House wasn't an actual house, Hellboy could see why it might be _shunned_ by some.

It also wasn't the original. Research, as he'd noted earlier, was not his strongest suit. Still, even he knew about the events that transpired in Providence, Rhode Island back in 1924. Unfortunately, the lack of any proper scientific notes from that - the sole survivor of the incident had no training in that area, or else no desire to document the exact details of what occurred - meant that it fairly impossible to determine the creature's identity. Still, the leadup to that event had been bad enough to earn the building the nickname 'the Shunned House', and with good reason. Why name a building on your campus after that?

And did _none_ of the students find it at all odd that one of the buildings on campus was named _the Shunned House_?

Abe was right; they really _were_ too accepting of the strange and unusual at Silas, to the point where many didn't even seem to _notice it_ in the first place.

He'd brought Abe and Liz with him today. They'd briefly discussed splitting up to cover more ground, but immediately rejected the idea. Even setting aside the idea that splitting up the party didn't usually end well, it would also completely defeat the idea of bringing a team along, and backing each other up.

"Well, this place is cheerful," Liz said sarcastically, looking around unhappily. "Who's their decorator, Nurse Ratched?"

Personally, Hellboy wasn't sure it was _that_ bad, but he kept that to himself. The subject of mental institutions was, naturally, a somewhat touchy one for Liz. "Pretty sure Mental Health Services is in the hospital, somewhere," he said as casually as he was able. "What did they say this building was for?"

"Accounting and finance, I believe," Abe replied.

"...that may be worse."

There wasn't any dust or debris laying around, but the school clearly wasn't putting much money or effort into the upkeep of the building. Flickering overhead fluorescent lights in the halls, peeling and flaking white paint on the walls of both the hallways and classrooms, the desks looked to be in danger of falling apart at any moment... What few students they'd seen - clearly, accounting and finance were _not_ popular at Silas - tended to be careful even where they stepped, as if afraid the floor would give way underneath them. That was a little strange, since the floor was one of the few things in the building that was not only in good condition, but showed some signs of recent repair.

Hellboy considered that. "We should check the basement," he decided.

"Sure, because up here isn't _nearly_ creepy enough," Liz snarked.

"Actually, it isn't; not enough to explain things." Because it was entirely possible that something had _earned_ the building its name, and if the closest comparison the Dean had been able to find was from a story that involved a Lovecraftian monster...

Things only became stranger when they stopped a passing student to ask him where the basement access was. He seemed completely unphased by a large red demon or a fish man walking right up to him, but their question made him freeze in place. "You're not allowed to go down there," he finally told them.

"It's alright," Abe assured him. "We have authorization to go wherever we need to. You can ask the Dean, if you want." Not that it had come from her, or that she was in any way happy about it.

"You're not allowed to go down there," the student repeated, in exactly the same tone.

Sometimes, Hellboy hated being right. "Why not?" he asked blandly. "What's down there that we're not supposed to see?"

"You're not allowed to go down there."

"Yeah, that's what I figured you'd say." Unfortunately, he didn't have nearly enough information to even guess what might have gotten its claws into the boy, let alone if it was permanent or not, or if killing whatever it was would harm any affected students, too. There was only one way they'd be getting that information, though, so he tried again. "We need to know where the door down to the basement is, so that we don't accidentally go down there by mistake."

If there was one good thing about the old 'robotic mind control' trick, it was that those it was used on weren't able to use their own wits, so couldn't really tell when they were being tricked. The boy pointed down the hall. "You're not allowed to go down there."

"We'll remember that," Hellboy promised, not bothering to point out that they just wouldn't care. "You might want to get to class, now."

The student stood there staring blankly at them for another moment, then shook himself out of his trance and went on his way, seemingly unaware anything unusual had happened. Perhaps because here it _wasn't_ unusual?

Cheerful thought, that.

Well, whether whatever was happening was unusual or not, it wasn't something they could allow to continue. "Come on, let's go _not_ investigate the basement."

"We're totally _not_ right behind you," Liz assured him.

They made their way down the hall, then Hellboy pulled open the unmarked door to the basement. He half-expected an alarm to begin blaring, but there was only silence. He flicked the light switch near the top of the stairs, utterly unsurprised when nothing happened. "Liz?" he prompted as he began descending the stairs, slowly and carefully. A number of tiny, hovering fireballs poofed into existence, carefully positioned not to hit any of them, or the walls or ceiling, just in case. "Thanks."

"Small things aren't a problem," she replied with a shrug that almost masked her tension. "We might need to evacuate the building if you want me to deal with whatever's down there, if it's as big as the original." Because there was no question anymore that _something_ was in the basement: the air was becoming increasingly humid as they went, and judging by the smell, one or more things were decomposing down there.

"Let's see what we're dealing with, first." If they evacuated the building for nothing - or if it _seemed_ like they did - the Dean would declare that they were just inciting a panic, and throw them out. They might not technically _need_ her permission to be there, but investigating anything would become _exceedingly_ difficult if she began actively opposing them. And while part of him welcomed the idea - he really did want to just take care of her and have done with it - it had been made clear to him that the Austrian government was unhappy about this whole situation (almost certainly due to the Dean's influence over the years; frankly, he was somewhat amazed that they'd been allowed to investigate at all), and that if they made any major missteps, it might well be enough to have their authorization yanked.

He really did hate politics.

The so-called Shunned House might not have been an actual house, but it wasn't as big as most of the other buildings, either. Still, he'd been expecting the basement to be divided into rooms, to help support the building's weight. Instead, there were thick stone pillars spaced throughout the large, open single room. The source of the humidity became apparent when they found a pool of water in the center of the basement about twenty feet across. The floor was damp, and _something_ had left wet trails all over the floor... and some of the walls. As humid as it was, they weren't evaporating, so it was impossible to tell when they'd been made. The wall around the pool was only about a foot tall, so either whatever was in there was really tiny, or it was the entrance to a tunnel... in which case whatever it was could be _really_ big. There was nothing else in the immediate vicinity, though a thorough examination would have to be made later, in case there was anything that might hint at how many victims had been taken. There were no bodies - rotting or otherwise - in evidence, which was something of a mixed blessing.

"Well, on the plus side, you won't have to worry about burning anything down," Hellboy deadpanned to Liz.

"The last time I tried to take on a giant sea creature was less than fun," she reminded him. He hadn't been there for that, but had heard all about it later.

"Let's see what we're dealing with, first," Abe said, moving toward the water. "For all we know, this might be one of Ms. Morgan's other victims."

"Oh, yeah, it's probably harmless as a kitten." Abe shot him a look - which Hellboy returned with as angelic an expression as his features were capable of - then dived into the water.

"It'd be really _nice_ if he were right," Liz said, her tone making it clear she knew he almost certainly wasn't. "I mean, it apparently _doesn't_ want people wandering down here, which it _would_ if it just wanted to feed."

"Which raises the question of what it _does_ want."

"Still, in theory it _could_ be-"

The surface of the pool abruptly began churning, and Abe, not even gone ten seconds, burst out of the water, proclaiming, "Not harmless! _Not harmless!_ " He dove clear, ducking into a roll just as a tentacle lashed out from underwater, missing him by inches. Several more followed, all dark green in color, with a purplish underside. "It's a cecaelia!"

Liz blinked. "Is that like a cilophyte?"

"Close, but there are differences," Hellboy told her, moving to flank the pool and drawing his gun.

Liz followed suit. "Such as?"

As if in answer, the cecaelia exploded from under the water. From the torso up, it looked like a human woman... if one ignored the fish-like scales that surrounded her green eyes, or her webbed hands that ended in sharp talons, or the gills flaring angrily on her neck. She opened her mouth to let out a hissing shriek, revealing a set of long, pointed, razor-sharp teeth.

Really, the fact that her long hair was magenta was probably the _least_ strange thing about her.

"...nevermind." Liz drew her own gun, warily aiming at the cecaelia. Abe, still backing away, did the same.

"Betrayer!" the cecaelia shrieked at him, tentacles writhing in agitation. "You _dare_ come here?!"

"Uh, Abe...?" Hellboy began, not taking his eyes off of her. It was harder to tell without rigid limbs, but it seemed like she was tensing to pounce at Abe, and he wanted to be ready.

" _No_ idea."

That clearly wasn't what she wanted to hear. She screamed in incoherent rage, flinging herself forward... until Hellboy's massive stone hand grabbed onto two of her tentacles, yanking her back, then punching her full in the face when she was close enough. The blow sent her crashing to the floor, chipping a few of her teeth in the process and leaving her reeling. "That's enough of that, calamari. How about you explain yourself, now, before I start getting upset?"

The cecaelia slowly pushed herself up on her arms, looking dazed. That faded away quicker than he would have liked, but if they could hurt her, chances were that they could kill her, if they needed to. (Hopefully.) She focused on him, then froze, staring at his right hand in shock.

After a long moment, she shook off whatever that had been and turned back to Abe, pushing herself back upright on her tentacles. "Is this meant to be an offering to the Deep One? No, betrayer. Not even that Artifact will spare you from my vengeance." She charged.

They opened fire.

For a long, worrying moment, the bullets didn't seem to be having an effect. Abe dodged, quickly reloading as he did so. One of Hellboy's rounds finally struck home - absently, he reflected that it was just as well that Carmilla wasn't there to see that, as a one in four hit ratio wasn't exactly his best... though, sadly, it also wasn't his worst - staggering her, allowing Abe and Liz to aim carefully enough for headshots. After four or five of those, the cecaelia finally collapsed.

The BPRD agents paused, exchanged a look, waited for Hellboy to reload, and collectively emptied their guns into the body.

Then Liz set it on fire.

In their line of work, there was no such thing as being too careful.

 

* * *

 

 

"Danny? Where are you going?"

Danny didn't even pause at Perry's question. "Someone reported gunfire coming from the Shunned House," she said tersely as she and four of her Summer sisters hurried across the campus, armed with bows, swords, and a lance. (Claire had a thing for staff weapons.) That had naturally drawn a fair amount of attention, including from Perry and LaFontaine as they'd passed by the Bio Labs. Admittedly, Perry didn't actually have any classes in that building, but anyone who knew her and LaF wouldn't be surprised to find one waiting for the other to get out of class.

"That sounds like something campus security should be handling," Perry replied, following them. LaF, naturally, was right behind her. "You shouldn't get in their way."

"That's true," Danny admitted, not even slowing down. "But the Dean's barely tolerating the BPRD's presence at all; she doesn't seem inclined to do anything that might help them in any way. And since one of the students called us..."

"I didn't think anyone actually had any classes in that building," LaF said.

"Neither did I. Clearly, we were both wrong."

Most of the few students that had been in the Shunned House were outside by the time they got there, milling about and, in a few cases, sitting down on the nearby grass. They all seemed somewhat disoriented, to varying degrees, but not as shaken up as might have been expected. They also clearly weren't afraid of the three BPRD agents standing there with them, quietly asking them questions, so whatever the problem was, it didn't seem to be related to their guests.

"What happened?" Danny asked as soon as she was close enough. Well, Perry reflected ruefully, maybe 'asked' wasn't the right word, so much as 'demanded'. She made a mental note to discuss manners and tact with Danny the next time they were alone. Danny wasn't one of the students on her floor, true, but she was there visiting Laura so frequently she might as well have been.

"There was a cecaelia in the basement," Hellboy replied, eying her carefully. "There's a tunnel that apparently leads to a nearby lake."

"Scylla Lake?" LaF's eyebrows went up. "Remind me not to go swimming there, well, ever."

"I'm... sorry, there was a _what_?" Perry asked slowly.

"A cecaelia," he repeated. "Think half human, half octopus. Or possibly squid."

Other times, she might have just automatically dismissed that, but given that it was coming from a very large, very red man with hooves, a tail, and stumps of horns on his forehead, she instead stared at him for a long moment... then turned to LaFontaine, crossed her arms, and narrowed her eyes.

They understood the look easily. "No, as far as I'm aware, no one in the Labs engineered a human-squid hybrid," they said patiently. It wasn't an unreasonable question, so they weren't offended that Perry felt the need to check. "I'll ask around later to make sure."

"Thank you," she said, because Perry was always polite.

"How do we get in touch with you, if they find anything?" Once Danny and her sisters had seen that no one was in immediate danger, they'd lowered their weapons and dispersed through the crowd to ask questions of their own. Danny herself wasn't giving the BPRD agents hostile looks, anymore, but didn't seem terribly thrilled with them, either. "I know Laura hasn't exactly been happy about not having a way to contact you if she needed to," she added pointedly, which, well, did explain a lot of her reaction.

Perry didn't like to pry into other people's affairs unless it had already been made clear that she was welcome to do so, and disliked gossip, but she had to admit that she would like to know exactly what Danny's relationship with Laura was.

She was pretty sure Laura would, too.

Hellboy chuckled gruffly. "So I've heard. She is one of our stops today, don't worry."

"I think her class lets out in another hour," Perry offered.

"In the meantime, we should probably escort these people to the healthcare center," Abe decided. "They should probably be looked over to make sure that whatever the cecaelia did to them hasn't left any lasting side effects."

Noticing LaFontaine was staring, Perry nudged them. "Don't be rude," she said softly.

"Wh-? Oh, sorry." They ducked their head sheepishly. "It's just... Well, speaking of the school's Bio Labs... Have _you_ ever been there?"

"No." He eyed them. "Why?"

"Well... You kind of remind me of something I saw in room one-oh-eight. Though, I only got a brief glimpse through a closing door once; that lab's off-limits to students."

"We'll have to add that to our list of rooms to search," Hellboy decided. "Though, we may want to examine the basements of all the other buildings, first. Just in case."

"We'll get out of your way," Perry decided. Her presence wasn't needed, and LaF was more likely to bombard people with a relentless stream of questions if given the chance than actually help anyone, so it would probably be best to be on their way. "Come on, Susan."

LaF waited until they were out of sight of the others to pull her to a stop. "Perry," she began.

"No," she interrupted. "Look... I'm doing my best to adjust to this whole thing, and remember which pronouns to use. But you've been my best friend for fifteen years, now. I don't like the idea that we're suddenly on a _last name_ basis."

LaF's expression softened. "I know. I just... I'm not _just_ Susan, anymore. I'm still _me_ , I just finally understand that being 'me' is more than just being limited by a feminine gender identity, and if _you_ call me Susan, then other people might think it's okay to do so, and it's already hard enough to get people to understand the whole thing."

Truthfully, Perry wasn't 100% sure that _she_ understood, at least not fully. "I know, and I've been trying not to. I just..." It hurt. Susan had been her friend as far back as she could really remember. She couldn't stand the idea of losing that.

LaF gave her a hug that she was all too happy to return. "I know," they said when they pulled back, and chances were they _did_ know what she'd been thinking. "We can try and come up with something else you can call me later. Right now, though, I should get back to the Bio Labs before everyone clears out if I want to be able to ask any questions."

"Good luck," Perry offered, feeling off balance.

"Thanks. I may need it." They paused for another moment before leaving. "And Lola? No matter what else changes, you're always going to be my best friend."

"I know," Perry said, forcing a (thankfully convincing) smile onto her face. She waited until LaF had walked away before whispering what was, to her, the most painful truth of all:

"That's all you've _ever_ seen me as."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** So, yeah. As it turns out, my job situation _is_ affecting my writing. Fortunately, this story - aka the Carmilla fic I'm writing right now that people actually care about - hasn't been delayed, yet. Hopefully, it'll stay that way.

Also, I am constantly amazed at how well these universes blend together with minimal tweaking at most.

 

* * *

 

 

"Please stop fiddling with that."

Laura (mostly) buried a guilty wince and let go of her new bracelet, dropping her hands back down to her sides. "Sorry. Just... trying to get used to it." Not only was she not accustomed to wearing jewelry, this particular piece was actually warmer than her own skin, and at times she could almost swear she felt it vibrating. Whenever she focused on it, though, it was completely still.

"I understand that," Bree replied. "I would simply prefer that you not call attention to it if you don't have to."

The two were walking back to their dorm - or Laura was heading there, anyway. When Bree had a late morning class like she had today, she didn't typically come back until noon or later. Laura wasn't sure where she went, though for all she knew Bree was in some kind of prayer group, or something. (She really should learn more about what Bree's studies entailed, she decided. Until Bree decided to start opening up about herself more, research was the only way she'd be able to advance her goal of getting to know her roommate better.) Today, however, despite her class getting out a good fifteen minutes or so before Laura's, she'd been waiting in the lobby of the General Class building, clearly intending on escorting Laura back to their room. Whether she was going to stick around after that or not, Laura didn't know. "It is okay that you gave me this, isn't it?"

"Yes, but it's very old, and one of a kind. Anyone who recognizes it for what it is might want to take it for themselves." Bree paused. "It would also be more accurate to say that I'm _loaning_ it to you. Once the dreams have stopped, for whatever reason, I'm going to have to return it."

"Fair enough." It wasn't like she'd _need_ it after that. "Who did you borrow this thing _from_ , anyway?"

Bree hesitated - just for a second, but it was enough to catch Laura's attention - then admitted, "My mother."

Laura blinked. "She must live pretty close to the college," she observed, because Bree hadn't been gone very long at all when she'd gone to get the bracelet. "Do you two not get along? Back when we were talking about what would happen when Betty was found, you didn't give the impression that moving back home was something you'd even consider doing." She paused, realized something, then added, "And when you say mother...?" Bree had never said how long ago she'd been changed into a vampire, so it was possible she was talking about her real mother... but for some reason, Laura couldn't help but doubt that.

"I am talking about the one who changed me, yes," Bree confirmed. "And she doesn't really care how I feel about her as long as I do what I'm told."

"And what might that be?" a new voice asked. The caffeine must have been wearing off, Laura thought - which was probably _why_ Bree had been waiting for her, to make sure she got back to their room in one piece - because she'd somehow missed _Hellboy_ walking up to them.

Bree didn't even flinch in surprise. She, clearly, _had_ seen him and his friends. Abe, Laura recognized. The young woman with them...? No. She privately resolved to do more research into the more well-known BPRD field agents later. "Oh, hey, there you are," Laura said before Bree could answer... though odds were good that she hadn't been going to. As Bree herself had said, everyone was hiding something, and while she might not lie, she also did _not_ seem to like talking about her past. "I was hoping to run into you guys today." Particularly while she was still awake enough to take in what was going on. "Oh, Bree, this is Hellboy, Abe, and, um..."

"Liz Sherman," the woman in question said, briefly shaking Laura's hand. She seemed nice enough otherwise, so Laura didn't get the feeling that Liz's evident reluctance to touch her was due to having anything _against_ Laura. Maybe she just wasn't a touchy-feely kind of person? "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. So, what can I do for you?" Because they'd clearly come looking for her; if they'd wanted to talk to Bree, they would have had plenty of time to catch up to her while Laura was still in class.

"Since we were already on campus, we wanted to check up on you," Abe told her. She wasn't entirely sure she was reading his face correctly - his features were alien enough that she suspected it would take a while to learn how to interpret his expressions properly - but she thought she detected concern for her there.

"If you're talking about my latest video, I'm doing okay right now," she told him. "Thank you, though."

"You could still probably use a nap before your next class, though," Bree said. "If you keep relying on caffeine, you'll be vibrating by the end of the day."

Laura laughed. "Yeah, maybe."

"You didn't seem all that excited at the prospect of more sleep last night," Hellboy commented with a deceptively casual air. "What changed?"

Laura paused, then looked inquisitively at Bree, who, after a thoughtful pause of her own, shrugged. 'If you want', her expression said. "Bree got me something to block out the dreams," Laura said, holding up her left wrist to display the bracelet.

"Did she?" Hellboy's face remained impassive. "In all the recorded instances of vampires giving humans gifts - particularly jewelry - not a single one of them has lead to anything remotely good."

Laura frowned, not liking his tone. "She called it the Charm of Maugris," she said, lowering her arm.

 _That_ got a reaction. Hellboy's eyes widened in surprised recognition. "The... Huh. That would be..."

"Overkill?" Bree finished for him. She shrugged. "Maybe so. But it was the only thing I could find that would do what Laura needed it to."

"You've heard of that thing?" Liz asked Hellboy quietly.

"The Professor mentioned it when he was telling me about one of his first missions, back in 'Thirty-Nine. He lost it in Transylvania while dealing with Erzsebet Ondrushko."

"Ugh, _her_ ," Bree said, rolling her eyes.

"You knew her?" he asked coolly. Laura didn't like _that_ tone, either, but she supposed Bree having access to something that professor he'd mentioned - Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, she suspected, given what little she knew about the BPRD - had supposedly lost while taking care of a hostile vampire (she presumed) was a good reason for it.

"I knew _of_ her," Bree corrected. "Most of us did. She was a vain, arrogant monster who attracted far too much attention to herself." To Laura, she explained, "Erzsebet Ondrushko was, in life, a Hungarian Countess obsessed with keeping herself young and beautiful. She murdered over six hundred young girls and bathed in their blood, believing it would keep her young forever. Naturally, it didn't. So she then sold her soul to Hecate, the so-called Queen of Witches, who turned her into an odd variation of a vampire, to serve as Hecate's High Priestess. She eventually settled in a castle in Transylvania near a village where she abducted and murdered young girls as she did in life." She paused, then admitted, "I honestly have no idea if what Hecate had done to her required her to bath in anyone's blood in addition to drinking it, though I suspect she would have done so either way. Too bad for her that Hecate being a goddess of darkness meant that, unlike the rest of us, she actually _could_ be killed by sunlight."

"Uh..." Laura honestly wasn't sure what to say to that story. If _that_ sort of thing was where most of Hellboy's experiences with vampires came from, it was little wonder he didn't trust Bree. _She_ knew Bree wasn't anything like that, though. "So, she might even be the reason people think sunlight's deadly to you?"

"Maybe." Bree shrugged. "Her ego would probably enjoy that. The rest of us already have enough reason to dislike her, given how much attention she drew to us over the centuries." She turned to Hellboy, looking pensive. "I trust your Professor is well?" she asked politely.

"He's fine, thanks." If anything, Hellboy's attitude became even more guarded.

"Good." She paused, then casually added, "Tell me, did he ever manage to locate that manuscript about the Servants of the Left Hand? Given their worship of Hecate, it would make sense that Erzsebet would have a copy of it."

Hellboy froze. "How do you...? Wait. That blonde girl he mentioned was _you_?"

"I told you, Erzsebet was drawing far too much attention. When we discovered a concentrated effort to exterminate her was in the works, it was decided to provide discreet assistance to ensure that the group was successful. Though I believe that, had the others listened to Professor Broom, it would not have been needed."

Laura, who'd been looking from one to the other as she listened to the conversation, was struck by something. "Broom? Wait, it's pronounced...? Oh. Well, easier for me," she muttered to herself. Better to be sure she knew _exactly_ how to pronounce Professor Bruttenholm's name, should she wind up mentioning him at some point in one of her videos.

Hellboy didn't seem to know how to react to what he'd been told. After a moment of awkward silence, Laura spoke up. "So... What have you guys been up to today? Or is that one of those things you won't tell me so that I can't mention it in one of my videos?" And maybe there _was_ a tiny bit of annoyance in her voice during that last part. So what?

If nothing else, her questions helped Hellboy find his mental footing again. "Aside from asking questions, we also wound up clearing out the basement of the Shunned House."

"You killed the cecaelia?" Bree asked.

"The what?" Laura interrupted.

"Think non-Disneyfied version of Ursula from 'The Little Mermaid'," Bree told her. She looked expectantly at Hellboy, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah, we did. It didn't leave us much choice."

"I'm not surprised. She was such a pain in the neck." She paused, then added, "Literally. She injected people with her toxin at the base of their necks, which, if the toxin _doesn't_ work on you, hurt _immensely_."

"How did a sea creature wind up in the basement of a building hundreds of kilometers away from the ocean?" Laura asked.

"You'd have to ask the Oannes Club about that," Bree replied with a shrug. "I don't know much about them, myself. Inez wasn't exactly much for conversation, but she blamed them for... well, everything."

"You talked to her?"

"Some of us checked on her from time to time, made sure she was behaving herself. I don't think the Dean liked her being down there, but since she wasn't really _doing_ anything, she just ignored her, for the most part. I doubt she'll be terribly upset that you got rid of her, though," she said to Hellboy.

"I'll try and contain my glee," he deadpanned. "And this Oannes Club?"

"Like I said, I don't know much about them. The Oannes Club, or Society, or whatever they feel like calling themselves these days, operate out of Milgram Lab in the Bio Labs building."

"Is that room one-oh-eight?" he asked, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Probably?" She shrugged again. "I'm not the one to ask about that."

"We'll make that our next stop, then. Unless there are any other basements that we should check out first?"

"I wouldn't know. The Dean doesn't like any of us, living or undead, wandering into places we're not supposed to be." This was said with a warning look at Laura, who'd been thinking about taking a look around some of those basements herself, now that she knew she might find something there.

"Okay, okay, I'll keep that in mind," Laura assured her. Which wasn't to say that she wouldn't risk it anyway, should she decide the result might be worth it.

"Glad to hear it," Liz interjected. "In the meantime, here." She drew a small piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Laura. "If you learn anything you think we should know, you can reach me there," she said, referring to the phone number scrawled neatly on it. "If you could check with us before broadcasting anything you might discover relating to the missing girls, that would be very helpful."

"I think I can do that." Laura wasted no time in taking out her own phone and programming the number into it. "Just you?" Liz seemed nice enough, but she also hadn't been with Hellboy and Abe during their first visit, so Laura wasn't sure she could count on her being near them all the time in the future, either.

"HB tends to break delicate electronics, and they have yet to invent a waterproof cellphone, so I'm kind of the only one left." Liz looked more amused than upset, so Laura hoped that meant that the other woman understood her reasoning, and that it wasn't anything against Liz herself.

"You're never gonna let that iPod go, are you?" Hellboy asked, sounding vaguely amused himself.

"I still haven't gotten that replacement you promised me."

"You will."

"Then that's when I'll get over it."

"Great," Bree interjected. "In the meantime, you-" She gently poked Laura's shoulder. "-should go lay down before you fall asleep on your feet."

How Bree had been able to tell she was swallowing a yawn, Laura wasn't sure. It sounded like a great idea to her, though, so she didn't argue. "Good luck," she told Hellboy and his friends once she was sure she'd be able to speak clearly, then headed off with Bree back toward Crowley Hall.

She hoped Bree would stick around. If the charm did everything she said it would, and let her sleep without fear of those horrible dreams coming back, she might end up sleeping for a week without someone to wake her up.

 

* * *

 

 

While Bree hadn't been able to stick around - her next class had been two hours before Laura had asked to be woken up - she had gotten Perry to take over for her. Being woken up by her Floor Don's gentle yet persistent efforts was a new experience, and it had left Laura confused for a while, until she woke up enough to get her brain working at full speed again.

When Laura worried that she'd made Perry miss any of her classes, Perry assured her that her next class wasn't until evening that day. "That's why Danny's not here instead of me, I think," she added, quiet amusement lurking in her eyes.

"Danny would have just let me sleep, nevermind any classes I might have," Laura disagreed. "Believe me, her texts this morning after she saw my latest video made _that_ perfectly clear."

"Make sure to get a good night's sleep tonight, and she'll probably relax about it," Perry suggested.

"That's the plan," Laura confirmed. "And... thanks, Perry. I know sitting around my room and waiting until it was time to wake me up couldn't have been terribly interesting." She was pretty sure that sort of thing went beyond a Floor Don's typical duties.

"I didn't mind," Perry insisted, smiling. "You needed the sleep, and it gave me plenty of quiet time to think about things."

"What things? Oh, and have you heard from LaF lately? I think Hellboy and the others were heading down to the Bio Labs building after I saw them."

"Just... things. Everything that's... going on." Perry seemed to find a spot on her wall _fascinating_ as she said that. Laura paused in the middle of making sure she had everything she needed for her next class to look closely at her. "And that room they wanted to look at was locked up tight. Unless they wanted to break down the door - and they don't have cause to do that - they're going to have to wait until they find someone with a key."

"Maybe LaF knows someone?" Laura suggested. "She's down there all the time, right?"

"They," Perry corrected quietly.

"Huh?"

"LaFontaine recently came out as non-binary. That's why they don't use their first name, anymore."

"Oh." Laura winced. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"You didn't know," Perry interrupted. "Sh- _They_ don't exactly go around announcing it. But you sometimes mention... them... in your videos, so they should have at least said something to you."

"You two have known each other for a while?" Something was a little off, Laura was noticing, whenever Perry talked about LaF - something more than just pronoun trouble. Usually it was barely noticeable, but her recent contemplations seemed to have lowered her guard somewhat.

"We've been best friends since we were five," Perry confirmed, a fond smile on her face.

Which explained why she might be having trouble adjusting her thought processes to LaF's revelation. Still, though, there was something... " _Just_ friends?" she asked lightly, watching her closely.

Perry twitched, smile becoming brittle. "Yes." She paused, her smile softening. "I wouldn't give up that friendship for anything."

"But you _want_ to be more, don't you?" Laura asked gently. When Perry hesitated, she added, "I won't tell anyone, if you don't want me to. Not even Danny."

"...yes, I do..." The words were barely a whisper, and Perry bowed her head as she spoke. "They just don't... see me, like that."

Laura pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "Have you ever asked...?"

"No. I... I can't. I told you, I couldn't bear losing her - _their_ \- friendship. I _need_ them in my life, even... like this."

"How do you...?"

"...I love them... _so much_..."

Laura hugged her tighter, having no idea how else to respond to the pain in her voice. "Well, P-" She broke off. "What is your first name, anyway?"

"Lola." The word was murmured against her neck.

"Oh, that's pretty. Um, do _you_ prefer to be called by your first or last name? You've never said, and I don't want to just assume."

"Either's fine, really." Perry took a deep breath, then let go of her and sat up straight. "Speaking of Danny...?"

"What about her?"

"What exactly is happening between you two? If you don't mind my asking."

"No, fair is fair." She'd poked her nose into Perry's love life, after all. It was only fair to let Perry do the same to her. "And... I don't know. I'd _like_ to be able to call her my girlfriend, but given, well, everything, there hasn't exactly been a good time to raise the subject. But hopefully, with the BPRD taking care of things on campus, that'll change."

"I hope so."

There wasn't much else to be said. Laura decided she had just enough time before she had to get going to have something to eat, and Perry proceeded to demonstrate that she could probably be _teaching_ her cooking classes, if she felt like it. She had, at least, bought enough real food when grocery shopping the other day to earn Perry's approval. Cooking seemed to recenter Perry, and by the time she left to go back to her own room, no one who spoke with her would be able to tell she'd been perilously close to heartbroken tears just a short time ago. Maybe she was right. Maybe being LaFontaine's friend was enough for her.

And maybe, Laura thought to herself, the next time she saw LaF, she could discreetly try and find out if there was _any_ chance their feelings for Perry might be in any way romantic. For Perry's sake, she hoped there was.

Everyone deserved a chance at real, serious love.


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

"How are you doing this morning?"

Not sure if she should chuckle in amusement or sigh in irritation, Laura compromised by shaking her head fondly at Danny's question. "Well, she at least managed to wait long enough for me to wake up on my own," she said over her shoulder to Bree even as she stepped aside to let Danny enter. "She even knocked instead of just barging in."

"I locked the door last night so that no one would wake you up too early this morning," Bree admitted. "She kind of _had_ to knock."

"Even so..."

"I know, I know, we all tend to forget our manners when it comes to just walking into your room," Danny said, not even pretending not to be carefully studying Laura as she walked over to sit down on her bed. "Perry already gave me a very polite lecture about that yesterday." She sat down next to Laura, still eyeing her.

Laura smiled fondly. "Yeah, if anyone would would do that, it's her. And I'm doing a lot better this morning, thank you." Since she didn't have any morning classes that day, she'd even managed to sleep in, and it had made a world of difference.

Bree, on the other hand, _did_ have a class to get to. She'd spent a little longer than usual picking out an outfit that morning, finally settling on a nice pink dress. Laura didn't know if she was intentionally trying to make herself look as sweet and harmless as she could while the BPRD was (once again) on campus or not, though if she was... Well, remembering Hellboy's attitude where she was concerned, Laura doubted it would do any good. Bree would surely know that, too, so she might well have just worn the dress because she liked it. She still didn't know her roommate well enough to say.

It wasn't like Danny would know her any better, since she'd made it clear she hadn't even met Bree before the night of the Town Hall (though, as visible as Danny often was, Bree had evidently seen her around on campus before). As such, when Bree headed off to her class, Laura didn't bother wasting her breath asking Danny anything about her.

Instead, she surged forward, pulling Danny into a heated kiss even as she knocked her back onto the bed, straddling her waist.

Danny, not used to Laura being so aggressive, didn't seem to know how to react at first. When Laura's tongue slipped into her mouth, though, her body went into autopilot, and Laura was all but humming with pleasure when she finally began responding. She lost track of the next few minutes, and was more than fine with that.

Until Danny's higher reasoning evidently kicked back in, and she froze in place, then grabbed onto Laura's shoulders and (gently) pushed her away until she broke the kiss. "Laura, wait," she began breathlessly.

"I've _been_ waiting," Laura replied, lunging down for another quick kiss. Her hands were underneath Danny's shirt, pressed against her back. They _had_ been slowly edging upward - she'd been so _close_ to her goal, this time - but now she was just holding on to keep Danny from pushing her back enough to sit up and bring things to a stop for the time being. Again.

"I know." Danny did, at least, seem to seriously regret interrupting things. Prior to that, her left hand had been tangled in Laura's hair, while her right had been grabbing her ass. (Really, Laura had been _perfectly fine_ with where things had been going.) "But this isn't exactly the right time or place for..."

"Felt pretty right to me." She wasn't seriously going to...? _Again?_ Laura was going to explode from sheer frustration, if Danny kept winding her up then pulling back.

"You need to think about-"

"I've been thinking about it," Laura interrupted, letting go and sitting up with a huff. "A lot. Like, _**a lot**_ a lot."

"Me, too," Danny admitted. She looked apologetic, but Laura was unmoved. "But there's more to this than just the physical, and I get the feeling you're letting your concern about being the next girl to be kidnapped cloud your thinking. You're afraid that you're going to die - or worse - and sex is very life affirming."

Laura felt like she'd just been slapped. "You think I just want to sleep with you because I'm scared?"

"Oh, I never thought that was the only reason," Danny replied, which sort of helped. A bit. "But it is _a_ reason, and until you figure out how much of one - until you figure out exactly what is or isn't driving your decisions - this can't happen. I want to be with you, Laura. I _**really**_ want that. But I don't want just a physical relationship, and you certainly deserve _**much**_ more than that. When you're ready - _really_ ready - we'll know the time is right." She got up and left without another word, smoothing her clothing out as she did.

Laura simply sat there in silence for nearly a full minute, struggling to get her whirling emotions under some kind of control. Did Danny think she was some kind of child? That she was too young and foolish to know what she wanted? What she was ready for?

Was she scared? Of course she was. She'd be stupid not to be. Even with Danny's protective (occasionally overprotective, really, but having grown up with the most overprotective father in Austria, Laura had a higher tolerance than most for that sort of thing) presence, even with the BPRD investigating, it might not be enough. She might still end up being taken. Vanishing, never to return. What would her father do if that happened to her?

But to imply that her fear was making her throw herself at Danny in some kind of twisted manner of reassurance that she was still alive and well...

She almost ignored the beep from her phone, she was so upset.

She couldn't do that, though. It might have been an important piece of information regarding the missing girls, or just the weirdness of Silas as a whole. It wasn't, though, she found.

It was a message from Carmen.

Since she'd met the other girl and seen for herself that she was a real person, she'd felt safe enough following her on Twitter. Carmen had evidently followed her back, because she'd sent Laura a private message, asking if this was a good time for that hot chocolate date. (She didn't use the word date, of course, knowing about whatever kind of relationship it was that Laura had with Danny. She was always careful about that.)

Laura grabbed her iPod, opening up the Twitter app. It was an iPod Touch, so it was wi-fi capable, but it was also old enough that it didn't have a camera, which was probably the only reason her Dad had bought it for her. It was so old that she knew Apple wasn't likely to continue supporting it for much longer, and a number of the apps on it would stop functioning. It would still play music, though, so her father wouldn't see a reason to buy her a replacement (and if he had to, for whatever reason, it would likely be a MP3 player that had even less versatility). That was why she'd begun slowly saving up to buy her own.

She wouldn't even have been allowed a webcam if it hadn't been a requirement for her web journalism classes, and even then she'd had to promise not to use it for recreational purposes.

She stared down at her private message folder, and the blatent invitation therein... and made an impulsive decision.

_I'll be at Cafe Konditorei Schrittwieser in twenty minutes,_ she wrote even as she reached down and picked her shoes up off the floor to put them on. _Don't keep me waiting._

 

* * *

 

Carmilla had to admit, Laura had good taste. Cafe Konditorei Schrittwieser was a lovely place. Bright and well-lit, sparkling clean tile floor, wooden furniture with _very_ comfortable padding on the chairs, stools and benches... And the smell! It had been years since she'd been out to a real cafe. She'd forgotten how heavenly they could smell. Judging by that, the place had great food to go along with its cozy atmosphere. Presuming they could wrap things up in time to save all the girls, she'd do her best to talk everyone into going there for a victory celebration. (Obviously, if they couldn't manage to do that in time, no one would be in a celebratory mood, especially her.)

Oddly enough, despite being in a place that should have been like heaven to her, Laura's expression was still stormy when Carmilla spotted her sitting at a corner table, staring moodily down at her hot chocolate. Something, clearly, had happened. She quickly and quietly ordered her own drink from the bar, then carried it over to sit down across from Laura. "I have to admit, I didn't expect you to just say yes like that," she said by way of greeting.

She might not have made a dent in her mood, but she did at least pull Laura's attention out of her thoughts and back into the present. "I needed to get away from Silas for a while."

"Everything okay? You seemed pretty spooked yesterday morning, but from what I gathered, your roomie took care of that." Hellboy had told her about the charm Bree had gotten for Laura, which she could now see for herself, peeking out from underneath Laura's navy blue windbreaker. (It _was_ starting to get a bit chilly, she reflected. She didn't feel the cold all that much, herself, but she'd have to start dressing appropriately to make it _seem_ like she did. On the plus side, that would give her a chance to break out the leather jacket. It wasn't one of her favorites, but it was comfortable - and, more importantly in this case, it looked good on her.)

"Yeah, she did." Laura absently tugged her sleeve up to hide the bracelet, not seeming to give it much thought. While it was good that she had at least some idea of how rare and valuable it was, Carmilla wasn't sure if she should be trying to encourage Laura to see her as safe to trust in that respect or not. "I slept great last night. Then Danny showed up this morning, and..." After a moment's hesitation, the story began pouring out of Laura, and Carmilla got the idea that a good part of the reason she _had_ accepted her invitation was because she wanted someone to talk to about the whole thing. "I mean, honestly, does she think I'm twelve?" Laura continued to rant. "That I'm too stupid to know what I want? Or that I'm like one of the Zetas, and only want her for her body?"

"Maybe you're not the only one who's scared?" Carmilla suggested. This sort of thing wasn't something that had been covered in her training - with Mother or with the BPRD - or that had ever come up while she'd been the bait in Mother's supernatural con game. Still, she had gotten enough practice at interacting with people during her time with the BPRD - especially those she'd needed to be more delicate and sensitive with, like Liz when she'd first been brought in - that she at least wasn't totally lost at sea. "I don't know her at all, but from what I've seen in your videos, she doesn't do anything halfway. Maybe whatever she feels for you is so intense that the idea of giving in to it scares her."

"...huh." Laura stared at her, eyes wide. "I..." She shook her head, refocusing herself. "Maybe. Though it's not like she's ever had a problem articulating how she feels before. Even when she shouldn't, like picking a fight with Kirsch, or... standing up to the Dean that one time." Laura fought down a shudder as best she could. "Honestly, if things hadn't devolved into chaos almost immediately afterward..."

Yeah, Carmilla agreed silently, Lawrence had gotten pretty lucky with that. She'd been there for at least two years before that, so she'd known the Dean's reputation, and may well have seen her in action at some point. To interrupt her, to openly disagree with her like that... Lawrence was either very brave or very foolish - and frankly, if she was actually turning Laura down, Carmilla was going to go with the latter. "Those were things that affected other people, though. This affects her. And you, of course, but since you've already said - more than once - how protective she is of you, the idea that she might hurt you...?" She shrugged.

"I get that. But she can't just treat me like I'm some delicate little flower, either," Laura replied. "What kind of relationship could we have that way?" she asked rhetorically. She sighed, shaking her head. "I just... I don't know what to do."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that when you decided to meet the girl who'd been blatantly flirting with you the other day for hot chocolate and started venting about your maybe-girlfriend and asking for advice on how to handle things."

Laura blinked, then laughed quietly, apparently only now realizing the awkward situation she'd landed herself in. "Um... sorry?"

"Don't worry about it, cream puff. I know you've got a lot on your mind."

"Cream puff?" Laura echoed.

"Yeah. Tiny, sweet, and something I'd love to eat up." She allowed herself a sultry half-smile, locking eyes with Laura.

Laura was staring right back at her, more stunned than anything. "Um..." She coughed. "Well, that's... Uh, thank you?" She shook her head. "I'm getting mixed signals from you."

"Not at all," Carmilla defended. "Just because I'm trying to help you figure out how to get Xena to realize you want her for more than just her body doesn't mean I wouldn't love to take you back to the place I'm staying at and have my wicked way with you."

"Oh." Laura was getting flustered again. God, that was adorable to watch. (Absently, Carmilla realized she might have a problem developing, but the thought didn't stick around.) "Uh... Well, I-I guess. So... Speaking of Danny, _do_ you have any suggestions? Because I don't think I can really be more obvious about what I want than I was this morning."

"She lives off campus, right?"

"Yeah. She's never invited me over, though."

"But you do know _where_ she lives?"

"Yes...?"

An idea began forming. "When you go back to Silas, avoid her for the rest of the day as best as you can. Maybe mention meeting me for hot chocolate on Twitter or something, so she'll be trying to get in touch with you. Then show up at her place tonight, talk her into letting you in, and don't leave until you get what you want. Make it clear how you feel about her, that it has nothing to do with the abductions." Because while she hadn't known Laura for very long, Carmilla _was_ still good at reading people. Laura might have been sexually frustrated, but that was hardly the sole driving force behind her trying to get Lawrence into bed.

Of course, while she hadn't known Laura for _that_ long, she had picked up on a few things - not only about Laura, but about her roommate, as well. Bree seemed to have adapted a much more diurnal sleep cycle than she herself preferred, but while she was usually there overnight, that wasn't _always_ the case, and she also tended to disappear sometimes during the day. Those times, Carmilla knew from experience, Bree would have been with Mother. She liked her children where she could see them whenever possible, particularly the ones that she felt needed watching (and possibly 'adjusting') the most. If Laura spent the night somewhere else, Bree would almost certainly have to stay overnight at Mother's.

Which would give Carmilla plenty of time to sneak in and plant a few surveillance devices.

It would, after all, be for Laura's own good. She obviously wasn't broadcasting everything - they'd actually _asked_ her not to do that, so she could hardly complain - especially where Bree was concerned. Moreover, even if Hellboy's team was on campus during the days, it was all too possible that one of Mother's other children might make a play for Laura, and even when her camera was on, it wasn't live. This way, they'd know if anything happened in time to do something about it.

Laura sat there for a long moment, thinking what she'd said over. "That... might just do it," she decided. "If nothing else, it should hopefully make it clear once and for all if whatever it is we have is the real thing or not."

Carmilla got up and moved to sit down next to Laura. "That's the idea. And maybe knowing that, if she keeps turning you down, there's someone else around who wouldn't will help, too." She leaned over and whispered into Laura's ear, "Because, for the record? If that had been me there this morning, I wouldn't have let you leave that bed for _hours_ , forget about your dorm room." Her lips ghosted briefly against Laura's earlobe, there and gone so quickly Laura wasn't sure if she'd imagined it or not.

Laura went very, very still. "I'm... not sure I should tell her that," she finally managed to say. "She might decide to just come looking for you, instead."

It would hardly be a fight if she did, but Carmilla naturally kept that to herself. "Oh, that wasn't a message for her." She pulled back to look Laura in the eye again, not even a centimeter between their noses. She knew Laura's borrowed bracelet would keep her from doing any mesmerizing - and that might have been helpful, to be sure that Laura had told the BPRD everything she knew, given how protective she'd become of Bree - but that was fine. She didn't need to do that. "I just thought you should know that." She planted a featherlight kiss on Laura's cheek, then got up, placing a generous tip on the table for their waitress. (Somehow, she doubted that Laura would have the presence of mind to take care of their by now empty mugs herself.) "See you around, Cupcake," she promised seductively, then swaggered out of the cafe.

She was pretty sure Laura was staring at her ass the whole time.

 

* * *

 

Actually _avoiding_ Danny wasn't something Laura was at all used to doing. Avoiding Danny when she was being prickled by jealousy and actively seeking her out?

Much, _much_ harder.

Fortunately, she'd gotten some help in that from an amused Bree. Given her offers to find somewhere else to be so the two could be alone, Laura had been fairly sure that she'd be willing to discreetly keep an eye on Danny, and let Laura know where _not_ to be right then, even distracting Danny the few times she'd been staking out the buildings Laura's classes were in. Bree _hadn't_ been quite as amused by her not-a-date with Carmen, but admitted that she could understand Laura needing to find _someone_ to talk to. She just didn't like the idea of Laura going off with a total stranger, was all. That might well have been what the four missing girls had done, after all.

Thinking about it that way, Laura had to admit she'd taken a chance, alright. It had been a public meeting place, though, and the staff there knew her well enough to have been keeping an eye on her, given... everything. (One of the baristas was even a Silas alumni, so Laura was pretty sure she was keeping up with her videos.)

The multi-story apartment building that Danny lived in was one of several in that area built by timber construction specialist Hubert Rieß. It was one of the older ones, which was probably part of the reason Danny could afford to live there alone. Danny _had_ let slip which apartment was hers, likely not expecting Laura to just randomly show up, especially when she wouldn't even know if Danny was home or not. And, to be fair, if left to her own devices, Laura probably wouldn't have chanced that, especially when Danny was perfectly happy to come over to her dorm room. The same dorm that kept them from ever _really_ being alone together.

Well, Laura wasn't letting her hide behind that anymore.

She'd sent Danny a text when she got there, letting her knew she was standing right outside her door, then shut her phone off to keep from being bombarded with Danny's inevitable flood of return texts. She'd known Danny was still at Silas, likely looking for her... So the fact that she showed up maybe ten minutes later made Laura's eyebrows shoot up. Oh, sure, she was out of breath, but still...

Well, little wonder the track team loved her so much.

"Where have you _been_ all day?!" Danny burst out once she'd caught her breath enough. In return, Laura simply gestured toward her apartment door. They would talk about this inside or not at all, her expression said. Danny didn't look happy, but she did quickly unlock the door and all but yank Laura inside. She could have had the nicest neighbors in the world and it wouldn't have mattered, Laura knew. That was simultaneously endearing and immensely frustrating.

"Classes. Studying. You know." Danny's apartment was small and cluttered, books, papers, and assorted knickknacks everywhere. There was a kitchen (with a slightly battered-looking chrome refrigerator/freezer); a living room/dining room with a worn peach-colored carpet, 21-inch television, a charcoal gray sofa bed (Danny had mentioned that she'd had a Summer sister crach at her place for the night once or twice, in the past), a tray table with dishes from a recent meal laying there forgotten, and a small wooden table and chairs pushed off to the side. If she ventured down the narrow hallway, Laura knew she'd find a small (yet still bigger than the one in her dorm room) bathroom, and Danny's bedroom. "I like your place," she said honestly.

"Thank you." Danny was obviously in no mood to be distracted, though. "Laura... I know you were upset, this morning-"

"Yes, I was," Laura interrupted. "Fortunately for you, I managed to find someone to talk to that calmed me down and helped me get a better idea of what the problem really was."

"That... _Carmen_ person?"

"Yeah. Anyway, seduction eyes aside-"

"Wait, 'seduction eyes'?"

"Yes. Anyway, she suggested-"

" _Seduction eyes?!_ "

Laura sighed. "Yes. Other people find me attractive, Danny. Deal with it. Honestly, after you running out on me all the time, my self-esteem appreciated that. _Anyway_..." She glared at Danny, silently telling her to stop interrupting. "...I get it, now. It's okay to be scared, Danny."

"What?"

"It's okay to be scared," she repeated. "I am. And no, I'm not talking about being a potential target for the kidnappers - though that _is_ plenty scary, yes. I've been wanting to talk to you for a while, now, about just what our relationship is. I mean, I want to be your girlfriend, officially. There didn't seem to be a good time to start that conversation, but... Well, for something like this, I guess we have to _make_ the time. Because I'm not letting you push me away without an _epic_ fight. I've never felt _**anything**_ like what I feel for you before in my entire life. I don't even know what to call it, and that might be because... Because I've been afraid of looking too closely at it. Because it's so big, so _intense_ , I'm afraid it'll burn me up if I get too close to it. You're so brave and wonderful and amazing... It didn't even occur to me that you might be afraid of the same thing."

Danny was staring at her in astonishment. Her mouth moved soundlessly a few times, clearly trying and failing to get any words out. "I don't ever want to hurt you, Laura," she whispered. Tellingly, she didn't disagree with a single thing Laura had said just then.

"Despite what my Dad thinks, I'm not that easy to hurt." She stepped closer.

"I've never felt like this about anyone else, either. I have no idea what's going to happen."

"I don't think anyone ever really does." Closer.

"I may not be able to let you go."

"I think I could live with that." Mere inches were separating them now. "And Danny?"

"Yes?"

Laura's eyes grew heated. "I'm not made out of glass," she said seductively, shrugging out of her jacket.

The rest of her clothes would end up forming a trail into Danny's bedroom.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

Laura couldn't quite remember the last time she'd woken up laying in someone's arms.

She knew she had before, if only when she'd been a little kid, but no instances were coming to mind. Admittedly, though, she was a little... distracted, that morning. Even the pervasive fear that she was the next to be abducted couldn't touch her. She was floating away on a warm sea of contentment. Metaphorically, anyway.

In a more literal sense, she wasn't going anywhere, as Danny had both arms wrapped around her, as if she'd subconsciously thought Laura would leave in the middle of the night.

When Danny had warned her that she might not be able to let her go, that wasn't quite what Laura had thought she'd meant.

It wasn't a problem just yet, though she was going to have to use the bathroom eventually.

"Danny," she said softly. No response. "Danny," she tried again, louder, kissing her cheek. Still nothing. Geez, she hadn't thought she'd tired Danny out _that_ much the night before. Admittedly, she'd never run into Danny any earlier than her Lit class, so she had no idea if the other girl was a morning person or not. What time was it, anyway? She stretched a bit to get a look at the cheap digital alarm clock on the end of the bureau next to Danny's double bed... and would have shoved herself upright in shock if she'd been able to move. "Danny, wake up! We're going to be late!"

"No, we're not," Danny replied without opening her eyes. Or really moving at all, for that matter.

While Laura would have loved to know how long she'd actually been awake, other matters took precedence, just then. "Lit Class starts in _five minutes_!" She was sure she'd seen Danny set the alarm before they'd fallen asleep last night...

"No," Danny said again, and her leg - her long, lovely leg - rubbing against Laura's did serve as a considerable distraction... but not quite enough to make her forget what she was upset about. "I called in before you woke up and let them know not to expect us. Food poisoning or something. Professor Meyer was very sympathetic and hopes we feel better soon."

Laura blinked in surprise. "Danny Lawrence, what has gotten into you?"

Danny allowed herself a wicked chuckle.

Laura buried her face in the pillow. " _Oh, goddammit_ ," she muttered under her breath, though the abrupt shake of Danny's shoulders said she'd heard her anyway. "You know what I mean," Laura insisted louder.

"We both needed the sleep, and you're caught up enough that missing one class won't make any difference," Danny said, unperturbed. "Besides..." She began gently nibbling on Laura's ear.

If Laura hadn't been awake before, she was now.

It was almost an hour later by the time they finally got out of bed. Oddly enough, Danny's bedroom actually had _less_ in the way of personalization than the rest of her apartment (though that also made it the cleanest and neatest room), being little more than a bed, a couple of bureaus, and a closet. That suggested that she spent as little time there as she could get away with, something Laura decided she was going to make it her mission to change. "So, what are your plans for the day?" she asked as she began the process of collecting her clothes and putting them back on. She could kind of use a shower, she supposed, but she had nothing to change into, and for obvious reasons, could hardly borrow something from Danny.

After Danny's claim of food poisoning, Laura could hardly show up at her next class like nothing had happened, though she thought she'd be clear by her afternoon or evening classes. Danny, however, had made it clear she wasn't going to do the same. If she set foot on the Silas campus, she'd explained, she'd immediately be bombarded with attention from her Summer sisters... not that most of them wouldn't know what she was really up to already. "Not much," she called from the kitchen. She'd insisted on making breakfast for the two of them, though that mainly amounted to toasting some frozen waffles. She'd gotten some blueberries out of her fridge to top them with, though, possibly to keep Laura from saying anything about that versus Danny's comments about Laura's own lack of a nutritious diet. There was a carton of orange juice sitting on the counter, waiting to be poured, though Danny had apparently had a glass while Laura had been trying to figure out where one of her socks had gone - it had wound up underneath the couch, somehow - as she'd been rinsing out a glass in the sink when Laura had stood back up. "I do have some reading to do, and a paper for my International Finance class to finish."

Laura paused briefly in the middle of putting her bra back on. "Why are you taking...?"

"It's a requirement for something else next semester," Danny said with a shrug. "Believe me, I'd be all caught up already if it were in any way interesting."

That was true enough, Laura reflected as she resumed getting dressed. She had first-hand experience with Danny's work ethic, both from Lit Class and their investigative work. "I guess that means I have to go back to Silas, or you'll _never_ get any work on that done," she teased as she pulled her shirt back on. Her hair was still a mess, but she hardly cared, just then.

Danny gave a rueful laugh. "True enough," she agreed. "What about you?"

"Well, I do wanna make another video, maybe go a bit more into detail about the whole octo-woman thing." She had briefly let her audience know what had happened in the Shunned House's basement the other day, but she'd mainly had Perry's word to go on, and she hadn't had much in the way of details. Laura had also gotten a bit distracted mid way through the update, veering into an explanation of why her dreams had improved (and the part Bree had played in that), as well as repeating Bree's story about Erzsebet for the folks at home... which had lead her to a detour into online research of both her and the Charm of Maugris. Since then, however, she'd managed to talk to Danny and LaFontaine about the cecaelia, though Bree seemed to have been the only one who'd known its - her? - name. (She'd been too busy with her plan to make Danny jealous yesterday to ask Bree anything further on the subject.) "I also wanna hit the Library for a while; pretty sure nobody'll notice me in there." Most students at Silas tended to hurry into the Library, find whatever they needed, and get out as quickly as they could manage it. Laura honestly wasn't sure why, as it was a lovely building. Of course, she'd always liked books, and old book stores or the small, cozy library in town.

"Keep an eye on the time, if you do that," Danny told her. She carried their plates and the assorted toppings over to the wooden table off to the side, and Laura, unable to just sit back and let her do all the work (even if Danny would have been perfectly happy to have her do exactly that) carried over the juice and glasses, along with napkins and cutlery. "I'm not gonna waste my time warning you not to go to the Library at all, but _don't_ be there after dark; it's not safe."

"What?"

"I don't know why, but once the sun goes down, the Library starts getting actively hostile. _Especially_ if you try going somewhere you're not authorized to be. So keep an eye on the time, and if you notice everyone else leaving, follow them."

"Okay." She could always look up the approximate time of sunset later and set an alarm on her iPod to give her enough time to clear out. "I appreciate your restraint." Because, as they'd discussed last night, just because they were dating didn't mean it was Danny's _job_ to keep Laura safe.

"I told you, Laura, as long as I know you're taking the necessary precautions, I'm okay. I just hate the thought of anything happening to you."

"Likewise." Not that she'd ever insist Danny check with her before doing things. She kept that thought to herself, though, not wanting to start a fight.

"Thanks. As for your video, you can do that here. I'd rather you not leave until the rain stops, anyway, since my umbrella's broken." The weather had taken a turn for the dismal overnight, and it was currently pouring out, with the wind making the windows actually rattle.

"Uh..." Laura took a moment to look around the apartment, taking in the lack of a computer set up anywhere.

Danny chuckled. "I have a laptop. The video editing software may not have all the bells and whistles you're used to, but as long as this is just a vlog entry-type video, it'll work fine. Let me know what you usually use, and I'll see what I can do about installing it."

Laura blinked at her. "You don't need to do that." Which wasn't to say that she wasn't touched by the offer.

"Well, since there's no reason for you not to come over here, anymore, I want you to be able to do whatever you need to while you're here." Her lips twitched, and she added, "Besides, as a TA, I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't make sure you were able to do your assignments, even if they're for another class."

"Oh, absolutely," Laura agreed, eyes sparkling in amusement. Because nothing said 'responsible TA' like playing truant with one of your students. "I suppose I should let Bree know I'm okay, too, just in case she thinks I'm actually not there because I tried to cook something nice for you and poisoned the both of us, or something." She wasn't _that_ bad of a cook, but if she'd tried to make something entirely new, with only a vague idea of how to do so...? Well, it wasn't outside the realm of possibility, she supposed. "Maybe she can stop by my classes and pick up any homework I might have gotten today." With most people, she'd offer some kind of snack as a reward, or to do some favor in exchange as thanks. With Bree it got kind of hard, though, since she never really asked for anything, and the only kind of snack that might tempt her involved opening up a vein.

Danny swallowed a laugh. "Sounds like a plan. Though, maybe you go with the failed cooking attempt story on Twitter, for any of your followers who noticed you're taking the day off."

"Oh, no." Laura shook her head. "On the off chance that my Dad stumbles across my account, I am not putting something like _that_ up there for him to see." As far as she knew, he didn't really even know what Twitter _was_ , but she wasn't going to take chances like that should he figure it out. "I'm just glad he hasn't seen any of my videos, yet." She knew she'd never hear the end of it if he did. "I, um, have mentioned you to him, though."

Danny looked surprised, but not displeased. "Oh?"

"Yeah. I mean, he already knew I liked girls, and has been nothing but supportive, so... Yeah. I think he likes knowing that I've got someone almost as overprotective as he is watching out for me at school."

"I prefer to think I'm just protective enough."

Laura snorted, rolling her eyes playfully. "Yeah, you two would probably get along great." Because despite her making it clear that she didn't have to - and that Laura would prefer she didn't, really - Danny had persisted in treating her like she was made out of glass. Very delicate glass, at that. Despite that, the evening had just been _amazing_...

She sighed dreamily, briefly lost in memory, not really paying any attention to the storm still raging outside; to her, it really was such a beautiful day.

 

* * *

 

"Food poisoning, huh?"

Laura looked up as a smirking LaFontaine sat down across from her at the table she'd chosen in the Library's main reading area. "Don't start with me," she warned, though her inability to keep even a small smile off of her face diminished any possible threat she might have made. "Just because you'd never be able to get away with claiming that with Lola around..."

LaF paused, evidently not sure how to take Laura referring to Perry by her first name. "True, though lab accidents are far from uncommon." And not just as excuses, Laura knew; there was a reason Perry tended to carry a first-aid kit around in her backpack. "So, what brings you here?" they asked, changing the subject. It wasn't any kind of jealous reaction - they knew Laura was dating Danny (after the video she'd just uploaded that morning, _everyone_ who watched them did), and so wouldn't even consider making a play for Perry - but if it sparked the thought that _someone_ might show that kind of interest in Perry...? Well, Laura would be okay with that. She hadn't figured out a way to raise the subject even indirectly, but she supposed unintentional hinting was a good first step.

Honestly, the two of them would make _such_ a perfect couple, as far as she was concerned. She didn't want to risk screwing things up, though, so she wasn't rushing into trying to make it happen. She was pretty sure she'd used up all her luck in that regard with Danny, and she was actually a part of _that_ relationship. Uninvited meddling didn't seem like it would end well.

The rain had stopped, for the most part, but the weather was still rather dismal, so between that and classes, she and LaF pretty much had the Library to themselves. Laura still took a quick look around to make sure nobody was around and listening in before answering. "I wanted to look up that Oanness Club that Bree mentioned the other day. I couldn't find anything online, so I decided to try here." The Library's ever-helpful search engine had been a godsend in that regard.

"What've you found? I've heard the name mentioned in the Bio Labs building before, but no specifics, and I never really had cause to look into them, before."

"Well, you might want to in the future," Laura told them, opening one of the several books on the table in front of her and flipping through it until she found the relevant page. "'Oannes was the name given by the Babylonian writer Berossus in the 3rd century BC to a mythical being who taught mankind wisdom. Berossus describes Oannes as having the body of a fish but underneath the figure of a man. He is described as dwelling in the Persian Gulf, and rising out of the waters in the daytime and furnishing mankind instruction in writing, the arts and the various sciences. Oannes and the Semitic god Dagon were considered identical.' Apparently, the Oannes Society was an occult organization who believed in life and all knowledge having come from the sea. Not necessarily a bad thing, and really, people can believe whatever they want, but... Well, they were evidently trying to work out a way to take us back there, or something... whether we wanted to go or not. The cecaelia, Inez? Let's just say she was entirely justified in blaming them for everything bad that happened to her."

"She's mentioned in that book?" LaF asked in surprise. The book in question was clearly not a new edition.

"By name," Laura confirmed. "It's a journal, written by someone in the Society back during Victorian times. The last entry in it says they found some kind of jellyfish-like entity in an underwater ruin that they thought was a god of some kind, at which point it just... stops. I've been trying to figure out what happened to them after that, and if the Oannes Club at Silas is connected to them by anything other than name." She shook her head. "So far, no luck."

"These are all the books that say anything about them?" LaF asked, pulling one toward them and opening it.

"All the ones upstairs, anyway," Laura said with a sigh. "The search engine suggested there might be a few in the archives, but that's in a subbasement that evidently doesn't _exist_ until after dark...?"

"Yeah..." LaF offered her a helpless shrug. "The Library can be... weird. Even compared to the rest of Silas. After a while, you stop trying to figure out how or why it does things, and just go with it. It's a lot easier that way."

That was probably true, Laura privately acknowledged. "Well, either way, I told Danny I wouldn't stick around after sunset, and nothing I have or haven't found is giving me a good reason to change my mind. I mean, if the Oannes Club _is_ related to the old Society, that could potentially be a problem, but they've also evidently been at Silas since the late 1800s. Unless something changes, there's not really any urgency there, you know?"

"Yeah." They paused. "Wait, does that mean Inez had been down there for a century or so?"

"I..." Laura frowned. "Honestly, I have no idea. The only place I found anything that mentioned her at all was in that journal. That she was here suggests that the Oannes Club _is_ connected to the Oannes Society, I guess, and maybe they brought her along with them. Why there's a tunnel connecting the basement of the Shunned House to Scylla Lake, I have no idea. Maybe Abe can explore it thoroughly later and see if there's anything down there that suggests a reason."

"Maybe. If there isn't, maybe he can get a hold of someone in the Oannes Club and ask them. From what you said about them, they should _love_ him."

"Yeah, that's... true..." _Okay, Laura, now you're just being silly,_ she told herself. Abe had never been to Silas before, so he couldn't be connected with the Oannes Club in any fashion, and there was no evidence of the Oannes Society even _existing_ past the end of Victorian times... which was about the time they Club had been established at Silas. But the research she'd done earlier told her that Abe had joined the BPRD in November of 1978, so he couldn't be _that_ old. "What about that lab they want to check out?"

"Lab one-oh-eight? It's been sealed up tight for the past few days. I think Hellboy's about one more day from just breaking down the door and apologizing afterward. I think they've been keeping an eye on it to make sure nothing was removed, though."

"Well, that's something, anyway." She sighed again. "I seriously have no idea what I'm even looking for," she admitted. "There's a club that may or may not have been formed from an old society that was involved in - if you'll excuse the term - _fishy_ activities, something _else_ is kidnapping girls for who knows what reasons, the girls who come back turn into party animals for some reason, while _something_ in my earlier videos clued the BPRD into what was going on, and the Dean does _not_ want them around for reasons that may or may not have anything to do with, well, _any_ of the above... I feel like I'm trying to assemble a puzzle blindfolded, and someone keeps rearranging the pieces on me!" she exclaimed in frustration. "I really need _something_ about all this to start making sense."

"I hear ya." The two of them were silent for a long moment. "What about those dreams of yours?"

"Ugh." Laura shuddered. "What _about_ them?"

"From what you said, Bree said they were being caused by some outside factor, and seemed to suggest they were connected to the missing girls in some way, right?"

Laura didn't think she liked where this was heading. "Yeah...?"

"Then maybe there's a clue in them, somewhere, that might help us figure out what to do next."

Yep, she definitely didn't like it. "Not that I noticed. There was the one I told everyone about, one where I was imprisoned in some kind of formless void, one where I drowned in blood while some girl in a nightdress watched..." She shifted uncomfortably. "I really don't like thinking about it."

"Yeesh. I can see why. Still, that might be one way to get more information." They paused, then carefully suggested, "Maybe you should ask Bree for more details - or, you know, any - about that 'mother' of hers that she got your bracelet from? Because it seems ideally suited to stop those dreams, and if they _are_ messages from someone trying to tell us something..."

"...then her 'mother' might be involved," Laura finished unhappily. "Yeah. You've seen how evasive Bree can be about things, though. Not sure how I'd go about getting her to tell me anything about that." She sighed again. "Honestly, I think I'd have more luck just asking the Library's search engine if _it_ knows anything about the missing girls."

"Eh, worth a shot."

She hadn't really been serious, but, Laura reflected, she _was_ pretty much done with the books she'd been reading. She'd taken plenty of notes for her next video, so she got up, stretched, and went to go put them back where she'd gotten them from. (She didn't think that would somehow make the Library like her, but she could at least try to do everything she could to keep from antagonizing it for as long as possible.) LaF, clearly having nothing better to be doing just then, followed her. Eventually, the two of them were standing in front of one of the Library's computer terminals. "I'm not sure how to phrase this so it will understand what I'm asking," Laura said, drumming her fingers on the desktop. "There are girls going missing, coming back, acting weird, going missing again... What kind of books could it suggest that would help-?" She abruptly broke off, eyes widening as she looked at the screen.

'Are the girls obsessed with partying?'

"It... heard me?" She exchanged baffled glances with LaFontaine. "Um, yes," she said uncertainly to the computer. "I don't even see a microphone on this, how are you hearing me?"

'That is a story of some length, Miss Hollis. My part in matters began - and, unfortunately, ended - back in 1874.'

"Your... Wait, are you...? Who am I talking to?"

'My apologies. My name is J.P Armitage, junior records clerk, and former student of Silas University.'

Laura honestly had no idea how to respond to that.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

One lengthy question and answer session with J.P. later, Laura _still_ had no idea what she should be doing next.

Technically, she did have a couple more classes that day she could be going to, but she'd already decided that wasn't going to be happening. The next most obvious answer would be 'save J.P.', but neither she nor LaFontaine had the slightest idea how to do that. That was complicated even further by the knowledge that experimenting in that regard would just tick the Library off, and if they hadn't had enough reason to avoid doing that before, the revelation that it _ate people_ would have provided enough, all on its own.

"Is there _any_ way of getting you out of there?" she asked him finally. "I mean, you pretty much know what the Library knows when it comes to books, and from what you said, can gain access to anything on the Silas Aethernet." The subject had come up when she'd asked him how he'd known who she was when she hadn't introduced herself and - even if there _was_ a built-in microphone - the computer didn't have a camera, and he'd admitted to accessing her file. (It had held surprisingly little information about her, save what had been in her transcript, given the nature of the school. It hadn't even mentioned Betty - or anything connected to her - at all.) "If there's a way to free you to be found anywhere on Silas grounds, it's probably here." Just because he was still in there didn't mean anything, after all, as it was entirely possible that he knew of a way, but it could only be done from the outside.

'Believe me, Miss Hollis, once I was able to move about freely within the Library catalogue, I wasted no time in seeking to discover an answer to that question.' LaF was right, Laura decided. They really _did_ need to find him a better interface. Even simple questions took far too long to answer like this, nevermind the complicated issues like the one they were currently discussing. It wasn't dark out just yet, but it was late enough that Laura was keeping a close eye on the time. 'Even if such a method was found, I'm afraid that my body... Well, let's just say that it's no longer suitable for habitation.'

Laura winced. "Wait, so it... pulled you out of your body, somehow?"

'Essentially, yes.' Evidently, she wasn't the only one who'd realized the limitations of this particular method of communication. 'I've gained a far more thorough understanding of what the Light's victims are enduring.'

That was the other big thing they'd learned. The girls going missing wasn't a new phenomenon at Silas. It had been happening every twenty years, without fail, ever since Silas had been established - and, most likely, for quite some time before. J.P. had been investigating them as well, and had been starting to make progress... when the vampires in charge of the school had decided that he'd needed to be dealt with. He even knew Bree by name, but maintained that she hadn't been working against him. He hadn't been a target (for obvious - and rather sexist, Laura decided - reasons), so she'd just let him go on his way, even offering some discreet assistance.

Given his eventual fate, Bree's reluctance to tell Laura pretty much anything relating to the missing girls was starting to make a lot more sense.

Unfortunately, J.P. didn't know any specifics about who or what they were facing. He hadn't been able to learn the identities of anyone high up in the vampiric conspiracy - of those he _had_ identified, Bree was the only one who was still at (or had returned to) Silas - and he had no idea what they were taking the girls for. A sacrifice of some kind, sure, but to what, and for what purpose...? There was a book, he told them. An ancient Sumerian tome, somewhere in one of the subbasements - that there was more than one was something Laura hadn't known, and didn't really want to dwell on - that he'd been looking for when he'd been... absorbed. It _wasn't_ one of the books he had access to, so he couldn't tell them exactly what it said, or precisely where it was.

Given that going downstairs would inevitably provoke the Library's ire - and the subbasements only existed after dark, when it would _already_ be hostile toward anyone still in the building - neither Laura nor LaFontaine had any particular desire to wander around in however many subbasements there were looking for one book out of God-only-knew how many, quite possibly fighting for their lives every step of the way... and all for a book they wouldn't even be able to read. There were translators around campus - Rosetta Hall probably had complete English-Sumerian dictionaries, or at least someone who could read the book for them - but even so, not even LaF was crazy enough to go into the Library's subbasement there until J.P. had managed to figure out _exactly_ where the book was. While he was working on that, LaF was going to go talk to someone about an idea they'd had. They might not be able to get J.P. out of the computers (not yet, anyway), but that didn't mean they couldn't take him with them... in a sense. The Library _was_ connected to the Aethernet, to let students check and see if a book they wanted was in without having to risk setting foot in the Library (an oddly compassionate decision for the Dean to make, though she likely just didn't want to be bothered by student complaints). That wasn't enough to let J.P. reach any computers outside of the Library, though. Not yet. (Accessing student files hardly counted.) If they could attach some kind of amplifier to the Library's mainframe, however, J.P. would be able to communicate with them the way he was now through any computer they plugged the receiver into. (They wouldn't actually be taking him away from the Library - in fact, they'd be coming up with a way for it to learn new information it never would have been able to otherwise, if the knowledge exchange went both ways - so hopefully it wouldn't be too upset about that.) Neither they nor Laura were overly knowledgeable about technology - particularly about the odd magitech that pervaded Silas - so they were going to need some outside help with that.

So J.P. had a job to do, LaF had a job to do, and Laura...?

Well, that was what was bothering her. She supposed she could start looking for someone or something to translate the book when they found it, but even J.P. only had anecdotal evidence that it actually was written in Ancient Sumerian. If they were wrong, she would have wasted time in which she _could_ have been doing something more helpful - though if she didn't, she'd be wasting time and just have to go find a translator afterward anyway. She also didn't want to tip anyone off as to what they might have found, and Ancient Sumerian was a rather specific thing for a student to be asking about, particularly one that wasn't taking any language classes. J.P. suspected that was what had given him away, too, back in 1874.

"I can't even imagine what that must be like," Laura said sympathetically, trying as best as she could to refocus on the conversation. She could zone out all she wanted once she was safe back in her dorm room.

'It... can take some adjusting to, yes,' he admitted.

"Wasn't that sort of thing one of the nightmares you were being sent?" LaF pointed out. Much like them, one of the first things J.P. had picked up on that had convinced him something bigger than girls going missing for a couple of days had been going on was the dreams some of his classmates had been having.

"Not exactly, no. I mean, I think there was a light in the one with the girl, and that she didn't want me going into it, because it was hungry, but... Well, I was a bit too preoccupied with the whole 'drowning in blood' thing to pay much attention to anything else, you know?" Even now, she didn't like thinking about it. About any of them.

LaF winced, just a little. "Yeah, I can see why you might be. But that 'hungry light' seems to be a constant, and not to get all fascinated by weird things, but that might mean that the rest of your dreams are clues, too."

"Yeah, maybe, but we still don't know enough about what's going on to put them in any kind of context. I mean, that other one I mentioned? That horrible, horrible Light wasn't there. Barely _any_ light was, except maybe... stars? I don't know. I still had a body, though. I just... couldn't move. At all. Couldn't do anything but... stare out into the void." She frowned as she realized something. "There was something there _with_ me," she said slowly, trying to drag the fragmented details of the dream back into her conscious mind. "I don't think it was awake, or even aware... though, even if it was, I'm not sure it would have seen me. It was too... _**big**_. It was just... _**evil**_. It hated _everything_ , and wanted nothing more than to get free and destroy it. Or... they did. I don't know how many there were. I'd been thrashing around so much I actually fell out of bed, so that one got cut short." The _thud_ of her hitting the floor had partially woken Bree up, but Laura had managed to reassure her that everything was fine. If she'd realized Bree could actually _do something_ about her dreams, she wouldn't have bothered trying. "But... there was no Light, so whatever that was, it isn't what we're dealing with here." Though, if that were the case, she had no idea why she'd have been dreaming about the whatever-it-was at all.

LaFontaine seemed to pick up on that as well, but declined to comment. "Right, one mystery at a time. J.P., are you sure you'll be able to let us know when you've found the book?"

'Quite. I do have access to the Library's official email account.' So he wouldn't be completely cut off once they left, though, aside from the limitations of that particular means of communication, they'd also be leaving an obvious digital paper trail for anyone who cared to look for it, as emails couldn't be permanently deleted from the Library's system. (Given that it was a place meant for storing and preserving information, that made an annoying kind of sense.) Anyone who read them would know everything they told him, and vice versa.

"Great. In the meantime..." Laura pursed her lips, a thought suddenly striking her. "...I think I should look into who was in charge of Silas back in the day, and see if any of them are still around." J.P. had mentioned a few names earlier. The Dean of Students at Silas back in 1874 had been someone named Jordan Perry, which had made Laura blink in surprise and ask LaF in Lola had any ancestors in this part of the world. (She didn't, as far as they knew, so that was one awkward conversation she got to avoid having. "Hey, do you know if any of your dead relatives ever helped kidnap and sacrifice a bunch of girls to some ancient evil?" Yeah, that would _totally_ go over well.) He - or she, the records didn't say, and J.P. had never gotten to meet the Dean... which, if whoever it had been was anything like the _present_ Dean, could only be a good thing for him - served as Dean from 1871 to 1904, apparently dying during some kind of student uprising (on which, again, there was almost no details - hopefully, Bree had been around for that, and wouldn't mind filling in some of the blanks). None of the names of the teachers that J.P. could give them sounded at all familiar, and the Board of Governors... Well, Matska Belmonde _did_ sound vaguely familiar, unlike Hasturmenchen, which didn't sound like an actual name at all. A title, maybe? It was possible, but that left her with no idea how to track that individual down... or find whoever held the title now, if anyone. The other members of the Board were unquestionably dead, though. Still, though... "Vordenberg... Hmm. Isn't there a Baron Vordenberg living in town? I wonder if he's on the Board, too." She hadn't been able to find a listing of the current Board, though unless they were also in town, it wouldn't do her any good, in any event. (Likely, their names weren't released to the student body to keep any reporters from doing what she was trying to do now - especially if they were involved. With the BPRD poking about, too, they'd be even more sure to stay out of sight.) "I suppose I should ask Bree, first. Don't wanna end up dropping in on some old guy who'd end up having _no_ idea what I was talking about."

"You should ask her what _she's_ doing here, too," LaF replied. "I know you're convinced that she doesn't lie because that would be against her beliefs, and maybe that's true. Even so, there doesn't seem to be any _other_ reason for her to be here at Silas - _again_ \- that isn't connected to the kidnappings."

There was a long pause, then Laura took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "...I know," she admitted. "She's been careful with what she's said to me, hasn't she? She doesn't know where the girls are, she doesn't know why they're acting the way they are... and she _can't_ tell me who did take them. Not that she doesn't _know_ , just that she can't _tell_ me. And that she didn't abduct any of the _current_ missing girls, that doesn't mean she never took _any_ of them."

_I'm a lot of things, Laura - many of which I'm not proud of._

"Well, if something _is_ stopping her from helping, or even leaving, bad things could happen to the both of you if whoever or whatever it is realizes you know about it," LaF pointed out.

Laura grimaced. "Yeah. Definitely no broadcasting any of this, at least until I have a better idea of who or what the real enemy is... and enough sources of information that have nothing to do with her that there's no way to trace it back to her." She'd also hold off on informing the BPRD about anything they'd learned... though, really, they didn't actually _have_ that much in the way of solid information; that was kind of the problem. They likely knew about the abduction cycles already, actually; that would explain why her early videos - made when she'd really had _no_ idea what was going on - had caught their attention. "Anyway. Time to head back to my room and do some entirely different research." She had a number of names to look up, and a roommate to question. She really needed some definite, solid answers, and she needed them soon.

Who knew how much time Betty and the others had left?

 

* * *

 

 

"Carmilla..."

Kate didn't sound happy, Carmilla mused, not feeling terribly troubled by that fact. "Kate...?" she replied, drawing the name out just as Kate had with hers. She managed to keep a smile off of her face, but the amusement dancing in her eyes probably gave her away. She didn't really care about that, either.

"You left the house, last night."

"Didn't know I had a curfew."

"You went to _Silas_."

"That college _is_ the whole reason we're in Styria."

"It's also the place where all the people we _don't_ want recognizing you just yet are!"

"Oh, please. No one saw me." That she might think otherwise was a little insulting, frankly. "I'm _very_ good at concealing my presence, and you know it."

"Maybe so, but that was still a huge risk to do something that we could have just had Liz do this morning."

"I'm better at this sort of thing." There was no ego in her words, just a statement of fact. Liz wasn't bad at it, Carmilla was just better, was all, and they all knew it. "Besides, I wanted to get a better feel of my 'little sister's' room." Everything Mattie had told her had agreed with Laura and her videos: Bree wasn't putting on an act. Her honesty, her faith... It was entirely real. Frankly, Carmilla didn't understand how that was even _possible_ \- Mother should have stomped both of those things into the dust very early on. Not so much her honesty, perhaps - as long as she managed to avoid saying anything incriminating to anyone who might be looking into something Mother wouldn't want them to be, she'd actually most likely be perfectly happy to have one of her children always be honest with her, and thus have at least one of them she knew was unlikely to be hiding anything - but strong religious beliefs?

Her room hadn't offered any real concrete answers, but Carmilla had come away from it with the idea that Mother _wasn't_ trying terribly hard to crush Bree's faith because she knew it would be torturing her 'daughter' more severely than _anything_ she could devise. As long as she kept her from doing anything to try and redeem herself...

Well, she'd always known Mother was evil. This was just one more piece of evidence.

Carmilla was sitting at the dining room table, ignoring the technicians as she looked down at one of the computer monitors on the table. Displayed on it was the feed from one of the bugs she'd planted in Laura and Bree's dorm room. Laura had gotten back a while ago and was sitting at her own computer, staring intently at the screen as she... Well, as she did something. Unfortunately, there hadn't been anywhere to put a camera that would have a good view of the computer while someone was sitting in front of it except the ceiling, and it would have been immediately visible there.

Even if no one being in the room last night hadn't told her that Laura had followed her suggestion, the video she'd released that morning certainly would have made it clear. Laura, it seemed, had had a _very_ good night: not only was she filming somewhere else, her clothes had been ruffled, her hair had been askew, and she'd been in a _wonderful_ mood that was completely at odds with the morning's poor weather. (Danny walking past in the background at one point wearing nothing but a towel had been another clue.)

Food poisoning, indeed.

LaFontaine had showed up a few minutes ago - that was the reason Carmilla was actually watching the monitor, instead of just checking it now and then (though she would admit, if only to herself, that Laura was _adorable_ when she was so focused like that) - and the two had held a brief conversation about text-to-speech software that didn't really make any sense to her. Something about a flashdrive, and the Library...? "Maybe tomorrow?" Laura suggested, her voice tinny in the headphones Carmilla was wearing. The microphones in the room couldn't be turned up too loud, for fear Bree might hear them. (Carmilla herself had picked up on surveillance devices that way in the past, so she knew better than to discount the possibility, no matter _how_ advanced the technicians swore to her that their new bugs were.) Still, the computers could compensate for that easily enough.

"Sounds like a plan," LaF agreed. "How are you gonna get away from Danny, though? You know what she'd say about an after dark visit to the Library."

"Oh, yeah." Laura grimaced. "Still, after today, if I tell her I have a lot of schoolwork to get done, guilt alone should keep her away. It's not like it would be a lie, either."

"I suppose. And Bree?"

"As long as we get back in one piece, I'm not sure we really need to tell her anything about it."

"Not what I meant."

"Oh. She hasn't been back, yet. I expect very vague answers when I ask her where _she's_ been all this time."

"Aside from classes, I've been at my mother's," Bree's voice announced from the doorway, and Carmilla sat up straight. Finally, something interesting might happen. Clued in by her behavior, Kate looked at the screen, sighed quietly, and sat down next to Carmilla, grabbing a spare headset. "After I borrowed that charm for you, she made it clear she wanted to see more of me, schedule permitting." Bree gave LaFontaine a polite nod of acknowledgement, which they returned.

"Who is your mother, anyway?" Laura asked, clearly trying to be subtle... and failing spectacularly.

"Who's _yours_?" Bree returned evenly, sitting down on her bed, expression unreadable.

Laura froze, then winced... then sighed. "She's dead," she said simply. "There was a car crash when I was six, and... I don't like talking about it." Or even thinking about it, clearly. "Her name was Jennifer."

Bree didn't look terribly surprised - though, after Laura had mentioned something about a car crash when describing her dream during that video, combined with the fact that she only ever mentioned her father when talking about her home life, Carmilla wasn't terribly surprised, either - and the quiet sadness on her face was almost certainly genuine. "I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thanks." Forcing her dark thoughts away by sheer force of will, Laura turned an expectant look upon Bree.

Bree hesitated for a minute or so... then sighed heavily. "When I first met her, she was going by the name Elaine Dalton. It didn't take me long to learn that wasn't her real name, though she was always careful not to tell any of us what it was. The less we knew about her, the less we could find out about her past." She paused, then added, "I'm not going to introduce you. I don't think you'd survive the meeting."

Laura made an aborted motion that suggested she was fighting down a shiver. "You told me once that you didn't abduct any of the missing girls, and that you couldn't tell me who did."

"Yes...?" Bree raised an eyebrow - Carmilla had made sure to find a way to have one of the cameras aimed directly at _her_ bed - obviously wondering where Laura was going with this. If she had any suspicions, she wasn't letting on.

"Do you _know_ who's behind it?"

Bree's lips thinned, and she said nothing.

"Look, I know what you said about some opponents being too big and bad to fight," Laura pressed on. LaF remained silent, their gaze bouncing between the two like they were watching a tennis match. "But that won't help me if I don't know exactly who that opponent _is_ , will it? I could manage to antagonize them completely by accident and not even realize it, because I didn't know who to be careful around."

"I... know..." It sounded like Bree was forcing the words out through sheer force of will, and couldn't quite manage to pry her jaw apart to speak normally.

"You _literally_ can't tell me, can you?" Laura realized, surprised. Bree managed to shake her head, and Laura winced, looking horrified. "That's..."

"Yes, quite." Now that they were on a safer topic, Bree stopped sounding like she was being muzzled. "Again, I must advise you to drop this matter, and let the BPRD investigate things."

"I know, and they are, but..."

"But what?" Bree asked when Laura uncharacteristically trailed off mid-sentence.

"I was researching that Oannes Club you mentioned the other day." Laura shifted uncomfortably. "I'll tell you about it later."

"Okay..." There didn't seem to be any reason not to tell her about it now, as far as Carmilla could tell... until she realized that Laura had actually started up her own camera when Bree had walked into the room. Well, at least that would give her a reason to know about at least some of what she now did, if she ever needed to say something about it to Laura. Presuming this was something she broadcast, of course.

"But you may be pleased to know that my investigation is moving away from the Silas campus," Laura continued.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. This isn't the first time girls have gone missing. Apparently, it happens like clockwork, every twenty years... though you already knew that."

Bree didn't confirm or deny that statement. "So... what, you're planning to interview former classmates of the past girls who disappeared?"

"If I can find any, absolutely," Laura agreed. Given how much time had passed, odds were good she wouldn't get anything from anyone like that (presuming she _could_ find any... though Laura was certainly stubborn enough that Carmilla wouldn't bet against her) except for greater depth in terms of human interest for her story, so Carmilla was actually fully in favor of her pursuing that course. Less so what she followed it up with. "What I _want_ to do is speak with the Silas Board of Governors."

Bree and Carmilla simultaneously went rigid (though only one of them was aware of that). "What?" Bree asked flatly, eyes narrowing.

"There's a Baron Vordenberg in town whose family has had someone on the Board as long as there's been a Silas," Laura told her, and Carmilla quietly hissed at the name.

Vordenberg. If ever there was a family that deserved to be wiped out...

"Supposedly, he's descended from a long line of vampire hunters," Laura continued, and Carmilla forced herself to pay attention to what she was saying - and ignore Kate's concerned look. "Given that their accomplishments include 'freeing Styria from the vampiric scourge'... Well, let's just say I'm not sure I totally buy that. But he does seem like the most harmless - and easiest to find - Board member I could speak to."

"That's probably true," Bree admitted. "But, were I you, I wouldn't take that to mean that he's anything but _comparatively_ harmless."

"I won't," Laura promised her. "Still, though, if he's as human as I think... Well, he is a very old man. I could probably take him."

Bree smiled. Just a little.

"The only other possibility is the Board Chair, one Matska Belmonde."

That knocked the smile off Bree's face _very_ quickly. Carmilla knew how she felt.

"She's been the Board Chair since Silas was founded," Laura continued. "And she's the Mayor. I mean, she's not even _trying_ to hide it."

That was true, Carmilla silently admitted. Mattie really wasn't taking any precautions in that regard at all, was she? Of course someone like Laura was going to notice her.

"Perhaps because she doesn't feel that she _needs_ to," Bree warned, tension coiling throughout her posture.

"If she's been here - in town, at Silas - for that long, she's almost certainly involved in what's going on." Laura shook her head. "Betty was a _mayoral page_ this past summer. That _has_ to be when she was first taken."

"And if it was?" Bree rose, crossing the room to stand in front of Laura. "As I understand it, you _already_ directed the BPRD to City Hall to investigate that. What are _you_ going to add to their investigation?"

Laura blinked, seemingly taken aback by her roommate's intensity. LaFontaine was edging slowly away from the two, though neither seemed to notice.

Bree let out a frustrated huff. "I am _trying_ to keep you alive, Laura, but you keep making it _very_ hard for me," she said, leaning down to look Laura in the eyes. "I do not want you anywhere _near_ City Hall, do you understand? There are some things I cannot save you from." She leaned closer. "And you wouldn't be pushing things like this if you fully trusted the BPRD to find the missing girls, would you? Is that because they've never managed it before, or is there something else?" She didn't wait for an answer - which Carmilla regretted, because that was something they _needed_ to know - instead continuing, "I realize I cannot stop you if you insist on being suicidal, but if you die, who's going to find Betty?" She waited, but Laura didn't seem to have an answer. With a final frustrated sigh, Bree turned and walked back to her bed... only to pause, frown at the table in front of her bed that their mini fridge was tucked underneath, and sniff the air, expression going from confused to suspicious to neutral.

"Concealed your presence, did you?" Kate asked pointedly.

Carmilla barely even cared that Bree might have picked up on a faint lingering trace of her scent. (If it had taken her that long, it was likely barely anything, if it was even Carmilla's at all, and there wouldn't be a trail to follow. Unless they literally bumped into each other, Bree wasn't going to know that she'd been in her room, and even then, it would be _far_ from a sure thing.) "I don't think that's our biggest problem, right now..."


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** Given that we've pretty much abandoned all but the loosest connections to season 1 canon, that gives me the freedom to do something I've never done in any of my stories, before. You'll know what I mean when we get there. Think you can guess what this particular surprise will be? ;)

 

* * *

 

 

There was a knock at the door.

It was so unexpected - and, in Laura's dorm room, unfamiliar - that it took a moment for anyone in the room to properly identify the sound. "Ah, yes?" Laura called. If nothing else, the unexpectedly polite visitor did serve to break up the tension in the air since Bree's outburst. Bree herself had flopped down on her bed, expression unreadable.

As Laura might have expected, had she stopped to really think about it, the door opened to reveal Perry. Of everyone she knew on campus - aside from Kirsch, that one time Danny had locked the door to keep out any potential rioters - Perry was the only one who actually _would_ knock, if her door wasn't standing open. (She tried not to leave it open, anymore, since she had more sensitive matters to discuss these days.) She supposed the BPRD might knock, and didn't even _want_ to think about the Dean showing up at her door again, nevermind whether she'd announce her presence or not... But she didn't want to think about any of them, just then. "Hello, Laura," Perry began slowly, giving her an odd look. "I wanted to come check on you, given the _obvious_ case of food poisoning you're suffering from..."

Laura blushed. "In my defense, Danny didn't even wake me up before she started telling people that, at which point I just would have been getting the both of us in trouble."

"Don't worry, I'll be speaking to her about that." Still, there was something... off... about Perry's expression. Not disapproving, exactly, but not happy, either. Her gaze darted briefly to LaFontaine and Bree before settling back on Laura. "I ran into Professor Cochrane earlier in the day. From what she said, she's been watching your videos, too... including this morning's. No one is _that happy_ to be suffering from food poisoning."

Laura winced.

"Still, as long as you turn in your work, I don't think she'll be quite as upset about an absence or two," Perry continued, much to Laura's relief. "Even so, speaking as Floor Don, that isn't behavior I can condone."

"I get that," Laura agreed. Really, Perry wasn't saying anything she hadn't already thought herself. "If there's any class at this school that I _don't_ want to miss if it can be avoided, it's hers." Professor Cochrane was easily the coolest teacher she'd ever had, and probably one of the more awesome people in all of Austria.

"Good." She paused. She'd clearly delivered her message, but didn't seem to want to leave, just yet. "What are you working on?" she asked, shutting the door and taking a few steps further into the room.

"Well, we found out this isn't the first time a bunch of girls have gone missing in and around the Silas campus," Laura told her, carefully not reacting as Perry walked over to sit down on her bed next to LaFontaine. There really wasn't anything she could do to help there, just then. "It happens every twenty years, like clockwork. That would also explain the BPRD's questions: they knew the what, but not the where. Though, how they'd learn one without knowing the other..."

"A tip from someone in the spirit world, a largely incomplete warning, a degraded text that mentioned some kind of ritual sacrifice with no indication of where it was taking place..." Bree shrugged. "There are a number of ways. I wouldn't count on them telling you, though. They've been even less forthcoming than I have."

Laura couldn't quite stop a laugh. "Yeah, I'll say." To Perry, she added, "Also, we've discovered that Bree's under some kind of brainlock that literally won't let her tell us anything she might know that would be useful."

"That's not quite true," Bree disagreed. "Me warning you that, if you and your friends keep going the way you have been, you'll be killed - or worse - is plenty useful. It just isn't what you want to hear."

"What way? What is she talking about?" Perry demanded, reaching over to take anxiously LaF's hand. It clearly occurred to her a few seconds later exactly what she'd just done, but aside from briefly freezing in place, she made no move to pull her hand back, likely not wanting to draw more attention to her actions. LaF gave her a slightly puzzled look, but otherwise didn't comment.

"Currently, I'm researching the Silas Board of Governors. The Board Chair - who is also the Mayor - is almost certainly involved. I'm hoping one of the other Board members can tell me about her, so that I can avoid having to actually interact with her myself."

"Didn't the BPRD ask you to run anything you learned past them before broadcasting it?" Perry, clearly, had noticed her camera running.

"Yeah, and I will." Actually... Why put things off? She picked up her cell phone and began composing a text message, summarizing what she'd learned as best she could. J.P., for the time being, was left out, as were her suspicions that they weren't telling her anything. She also didn't specify which Board member she wanted to talk to, since Vordenberg's name took up too many characters. "But if knowing the BPRD is on the scene didn't spook whoever's doing this when they showed up, knowing that they might have been aware of previous abductions and failed to do anything about them likely won't make much of a difference."

"Maybe." Perry still didn't seem happy - though, really, with two girls missing and two more having been turned into party girls, there wasn't a lot to be happy _about_ \- but she let it go. "Also, Kirsch wanted me to let you know about the Peace Ausburg luau that's happening tomorrow night, since he seems to be one of the only ones who actually buys your food poisoning story-"

" _Danny's_ food poisoning story!" Laura interrupted.

"-given your instrumental role in calming tensions on campus," Perry finished as if she hadn't spoken.

"That they needed someone to tell them that fighting and causing destruction was _not_ serving to protect anyone is exceedingly sad," Bree noted.

Laura... really wished she could argue that point.

"He also wanted me to tell you that yes, that invitation _does_ extend to Danny, too," Perry added. "I know the Summer Society insisted on having at least some say in what was going on, if only to make sure the Zetas didn't burn all the food, but since she's ducking their calls, she might not be aware of that, just yet."

"I'll be sure to tell her," Laura promised, even as she sent her text to Liz. It would be their first real, in public, no research involved date, she reflected. A moment later, she realized she had no idea what to wear. "Is there a theme to this, or is it just a luau because they felt like roasting a pig or two?" she asked. Betty had helped her get ready for the last party on campus she'd gone to - actually, _every_ party on campus that she'd gone to - and she wasn't confident in her ability to get ready on her own. This was one area Bree _couldn't_ replace Betty in, as far as Laura had seen.

"He didn't really say. He was too distracted by Sarah Jane." Perry winced. "It's gotten to the point where even _he's_ finding her behavior odd."

Laura took that in with the appropriate seriousness. "Yikes." And this was the guy who'd forgotten Beowulf's name literally two seconds after she'd said it. "What did Will have to say?" Because she hadn't forgotten that he was almost certainly involved, too. Which meant that, including Bree, there were at least three vampires involved with the whole affair, likely more. (She made a mental note to research the name Bree had given for her 'mother' later. Bree herself admitted it was fake, but if she'd been using it for a while, there might be a record of it somewhere.)

"He actually wasn't around, for once." Perry was too polite to say anything, but she didn't seem to like Will any more than Bree did. (LaF, since learning he was likely a vampire, had seemed more inclined to view him as a potential test subject in the lab, on which they could run all the tests and procedures they wouldn't even think about using Bree for.) Laura would have liked to give him the benefit of the doubt, but even she couldn't deny she found him rather slimy. "Probably something to do with Natalie."

"Right." Wouldn't do to leave their potential sacrifices unsupervised for _too_ long, would it? Though, that did raise another question. "Are you sure that Kirsch isn't...?" she asked Bree, giving her a 'you know' gesture.

Bree replied to that with an indelicate snort. "Please. We do have _some_ standards. Besides, were he one of Mother's 'children', he'd know better than to antagonize me."

That was true enough, Laura reflected, remembering Bree unceremoniously tossing Kirsch out the door and into a wall. Shaking off the memory, she turned to Perry and said, "Well, you can tell Kirsch that Danny and I will be there. I'm not sure she'll be able to keep from being sucked into Summer-related business, but if she does, I'm sure I can find something to keep myself occupied with." Such as an after dark Library trip, she thought, exchanging looks with LaFontaine.

Perry noticed, though she didn't comment. "I'll do that. Though, given the cause for the party, I'm fairly sure everyone is invited."

That was true of most parties at Silas, as far as Laura knew, but she didn't say anything. She didn't think she'd seen Perry at any of the ones she'd been to, except in a professional capacity, so maybe she didn't know that. " _You're_ not going to be working the whole time, are you?" she asked pointedly.

"Technically, I'm _always_ on call," Perry admitted. "So, no, no more than any other day."

"Good." She'd drag Perry onto the dance floor herself, if that was what it took to make sure their Floor Don had a good time. That would be all it was, but if other people could see Perry in a more informal setting, and started paying her enough attention to make LaFontaine in any way jealous...?

Well, that was a risk Laura was willing to take.

 

* * *

 

 

"I am really not comfortable with this," Liz noted, eyeing the partying students below them nervously. "I don't really do well with crowds."

"How do you think I feel?" Abe shot back. "You could at least blend in, if you wanted." Which she clearly didn't, since she'd stuck with her work clothes, just as he had.

"I'm not happy with it, myself," Hellboy broke in. "But every time a girl went missing, it happened at a party, and we know Hollis is next on the list." Which meant keeping an eye on her for the evening. Admittedly, Spielsdorf had vanished _after_ a party, but she'd also been grabbed from City Hall the first time. The other three girls followed what was evidently the standard pattern. Even young miss Hollis had turned that up during her research. Why she'd risk going to one herself when she _knew_ she was a target...?

It was possible, Hellboy supposed, that her excitement over her new relationship had temporarily blinded her to the danger, and she wasn't likely to go off with anyone _except_ her girlfriend, so if she stuck close to Lawrence, hopefully she'd be fine. He just hoped she wasn't trying to use herself as bait, to lure the kidnappers out into the open. She had to have more common sense than that, right?

Nothing in any of the text messages she'd exchanged with Liz the day before indicated she had any such plan. She hadn't seemed happy about being told to hold off on broadcasting anything she'd learned at the Library, but she also hadn't seemed surprised. If they hadn't had the feed from the bugs Carmilla had planted, he might have believed she planned on just leaving things to them.

That Hollis - or Laura, as Carmilla had started calling her at some point, something that he naturally couldn't resist pointing out and lightly teasing her about - didn't entirely trust them was far from a good thing... though, if he was going to be fair, he'd admit they hadn't done a lot to _earn_ her trust, just yet. She wasn't being actively _distrustful_ , though, so they didn't need to worry about her impeding their efforts. (Not deliberately, anyway.)

Given that, as Abe had noted, they really had no hope of blending in with the crowd, they were observing from a distance. They'd selected a balcony on one of the nearby buildings where they could keep an eye on Hollis without attracting _too_ much attention, complete with cameras, binoculars, and a comm link to Kate and the others. (Most of the other balconies surrounding the Quad were also occupied, and people _had_ noticed them. Most were too drunk and/or busy to pay the BPRD team much attention, though.)

Hollis had arrived a while ago, arm in arm with Lawrence. She'd actually managed to hang onto her for a while, too, before Summer Society business pulled her away, which Hollis probably considered something of an achievement. (Not really knowing much about the Summer Society of the tension that existed between them and Zeta Omega Mu, beyond that they existed, he couldn't comment on that.) Even then, Lawrence didn't go far, always being sure to keep Hollis in sight. (So at least one of them seemed to realize Hollis was in danger just being there.)

Of course, it was also possible she didn't like that Hollis seemed to have otherwise attached herself to Perry.

Based on the surveillance feed, that was likely because she was trying to make sure Perry actually had fun, instead of just supervising everyone _else_ enjoying themselves. It didn't amount to much besides talking and the occasional dance (with Perry looking rather uncomfortable, honestly... at least until the drinks she'd been downing began kicking in). The only other person paying them as much attention as Lawrence was LaFontaine.

And now that he thought about it, Hollis seemed to be paying more attention to LaFontaine's reactions then her own girlfriend's. Interesting, but ultimately irrelevant, he decided. He and the BPRD were at Silas to take care of a centuries-old conspiracy, not get involved in co-ed interpersonal issues.

The only one who was clearly not _at all_ enjoying herself was Bree. _That_ had Hellboy on edge. It might be that she just didn't like parties... or she'd been serious about liking Laura, and knew something was going to go down that evening. Hollis and crew had dressed casually (presumably also stylishly, but fashion was _really_ not his thing), while Bree's low-cut black dress wouldn't have been out of place at a high society function. She was utterly ignoring all the attention it was getting her, male or female. She stared at Laura for a while longer, sighed, then pulled a phone out of her matching purse and dialed a number.

And Liz's phone began ringing.

The three of them froze for a long moment, exchanging uncertain looks. Finally, lacking a better idea, Liz answered it. "Yes?"

"Are you and your friends enjoying yourselves up there, Miss Sherman?" A quick check showed that, sure enough, Bree had turned to stare right up at them. "You're welcome to come down and join the rest of us. I'm fairly certain the refreshments are _mostly_ alcohol-free. Aside from the actual alcoholic beverages, of course."

Liz had the call on speaker, so the rest of the BPRD contingent in Styria could hear what was being said. "Ah, no, thank you. We're here to work, after all."

"Are you, now? And what, pray tell, are you going to do from up there if something does happen?"

"Why don't you let us worry about that?" Hellboy countered, resuming his surveillance of Hollis. "You wanna be helpful, how about you tell us what to be looking out for?" Which she likely wouldn't be able to do, given what they'd seen yesterday. But since they weren't _supposed_ to know about that...

"Do not insult my intelligence by pretending you don't know what's going on at this school, demon," Bree said flatly. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing, pretending to be some kind of 'hero', but I've no interest in playing along."

The insinuation shouldn't have stung as much as it did, given the source. " _I'm_ not the one playing games," he shot back, glaring down at Bree, who was looking back up at him, seemingly just as irritated. "Or do you expect us to believe you were specifically chosen by the Dean of Students herself to be Miss Hollis's new roommate for no reason at all?"

"I'm not pretending to be anything," she said simply - and honestly, he had to admit. She'd even confessed her past involvement in matters to Hollis, to a degree. "Laura knows what I am, and she knows I'm trying to keep her alive."

"So that she can be sacrificed later? Gosh, how noble."

"If you know as much about what's happening here as I suspect you do, you know exactly who the real threat is. Yet, you haven't even tried to act against-" She briefly sounded like she was being strangled. "...that person," she finished instead. The Dean had evidently taken special care to make sure Bree couldn't tell anyone any important details even if she wanted to, and it was obviously _not_ a pleasant sensation. Hellboy felt a measure of his hostility drain away. Carmilla had described such mental bindings, but always in the past tense, and she'd never liked going into detail about them.

It was easy to see why, now.

"That wouldn't give us what we needed to save the girls, would it?" Abe spoke up. "And I doubt that Light would be happy about missing its meal."

"I don't know anything about that. None of us here do."

Hellboy considered that thoughtfully. If none of them _there_ knew anything about the Light... maybe someone who wasn't, such as Belmonde, could fill in a few blanks? They'd have to have Carmilla talk to her again, though not at City Hall, if it could be avoided. "So, what _can_ you tell us?"

She let out an irritated sigh, finally turning away and surveying the rest of the party. "The more time you waste watching me, the greater the chance something will happen to Laura or one of the others."

"We're not _just_ watching you."

"Hey, Bree, who are you talking to?" The voice was barely audible through the phone, but they could see Hollis had walked up to her, so it would have been obvious who it belonged to.

"Your friends in the BPRD," Bree replied, gesturing vaguely toward their balcony. "I presume they, unlike you, did _not_ forget that all the missing girls first vanished at parties."

Hollis blinked, turned to look up at them, and offered them a little wave. "I didn't forget," she defended. "I just refuse to live in fear. Besides, I'm as safe here as I am anywhere, aren't I?"

"I really couldn't-" Bree abruptly broke off, attention caught by something happening on one of the other balconies... then she tossed Laura her phone and seemingly vanished into thin air. Hellboy, having grown up around Carmilla, recognized vampiric speed in action, and decided that anything that prompted _that_ kind of reaction was something he needed to investigate, so he dashed forward and vaulted over the railing. They'd only been on the second floor, so the impact wasn't too severe, and he was immediately sprinting toward what had so distracted Bree.

A girl tumbling over the side of a balcony on the third floor across the Quad.

The girl - he belatedly recognized her as Sarah Jane, having located her and Natalie earlier - screamed as she plummeted earthward, too late, and heads began to turn in her direction. Even as he ran, he knew he'd never be able to make it in time.

He did, however, get close enough to see a blur heading toward the building, either run or jump up it, then spring off, colliding with Sarah Jane in the air and altering her trajectory. They sailed toward the ground in a much more horizontal arc, impacting with bone jarring but nonlethal force.

Even as Hellboy raced forward - students all but diving out of his way once they saw him coming - his mind filled in the blanks: Bree, either acting to preserve one of the sacrifices or just on sheer instinct, had demonstrated her inhuman nature to everyone present... and saved Sarah Jane's life.

Hollis, having gotten a headstart, managed to beat him to where Bree was laying wrapped around a confused Sarah Jane, though not by much. "Are you two okay?!" she demanded, dropping to her knees next to them.

"I wanna go to the party," Sarah Jane murmured, whatever clarity her adrenaline-filled fall had given her fading rapidly.

"Oh, do be quiet," Bree grumbled quietly. To Laura, she said, "We're fine, thank you." She'd torn her dress in a few spots hitting the pavement, and had a number of scrapes and bruises, but she didn't seem to notice. She quickly stood, pulling Sarah Jane - already swaying in place to music no one else could hear - with her. She began scanning the crowd, clearly looking for something - or someone - in particular.

Hellboy heard Abe and Liz - having more sensibly taken the stairs inside the building - running up behind him, but didn't turn, keeping his attention fixed firmly on Bree. She continued sweeping her gaze over the gawking crowd... until she stopped, expression darkening as she locked her gaze on Will. He looked like he'd come out a side door of the building Sarah Jane had fallen from, and it wasn't hard to conclude that he must have had something to do with her fall.

Bree growled quietly - reminding Hellboy enough of Carmilla when her inner panther was riled up to make him wonder what _her_ shapeshifted form might be - and shoved Sarah Jane at the nearest warm body... which was him. Bree didn't turn to see who she'd just handed her off to - possibly so that she could truthfully say she had no idea, later on? - instead taking off her shoes and handing them to Laura, walking forward and snatching up someone's discarded wooden chair and snapping off a leg thick enough to serve as a stake, and giving Will a glare that could only be called murderous.

He might not have been the brightest of the vampires around, but Will wasn't _that_ stupid; he immediately took off running in the other direction, Bree in hot pursuit. Both were gone before most everyone else could blink.

Hellboy, still holding onto Sarah Jane to keep her from wandering off, turned to Abe and Liz. "Think the Dean would object to our removing her to somewhere a bit safer?"

"If she wants to, let her," Abe replied. The BPRD had never been able to get a hold of one of the sacrifices while they were in full party girl mode, before. This could potentially be a goldmine of information that they _badly_ needed.

"Is she gonna kill him?" Hollis asked, sounding concerned. Unless she hadn't figured out that Will was almost certainly the reason Sarah Jane had taken a dive - and she likely had, as Laura Hollis could be quite perceptive when she wanted to be - she was probably worried about Bree getting in trouble.

Since he'd nearly killed one of the sacrifices, odds were good that Bree would be just fine, no matter what happened. "Only if he stops running." Hellboy didn't really care if that did happen, except that it would mean one less vampire they had to deal with later. They'd literally just been handed their best lead yet.

Time to take advantage of it.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

"I do _not_ remember you being this much of a lightweight," LaFontaine commented as they half-carried a stumbling Perry back to her dorm room. Between Sarah Jane's near death and Natalie going missing - Kirsch and the others had actually gone off to look for her, locking Sarah Jane up for her own safety, when Will had evidently made an attempt at grabbing her... and badly screwed up - there was enough chaos that they and Laura had easily been able to sneak away from the party, mostly unnoticed. 'Mostly', because _of course_ Danny had been paying very close attention to what Laura was doing, especially after Bree had streaked off after Will, murder seemingly on her mind.

Fortunately, Perry had made for a convenient excuse. LaF wasn't sure exactly what she'd been drinking as the party had gone on, but it was clearly hitting her _hard_ , to the point where she couldn't quite walk in a straight line. Or at all, really, given how badly she'd been wobbling. Since both Laura and LaF really _did_ want to make sure Perry got back to her room safely, naturally Danny had believed it, letting herself get pulled into the search for Natalie. Once they were safely out of range, Laura (after LaF had reassured her that they could get Perry safely back to her room without any help) had split off to go check out Sarah Jane's and Natalie's rooms as quickly as she could.

"Sarah Jane wasn't kidding about those Fizzy Dagons," Perry giggled. "They are _really_ good."

"You must have been drinking a lot of them, then." More than they'd seen her having, clearly. They were almost to her room, thank goodness. LaF had a couple of things to pick up from their own room before they could meet Laura in front of the Library, and they didn't like the idea of her being alone for too long, given that she was, in all probability, still being targeted. Despite not knowing if she could be trusted, they found themself wishing Bree hadn't run off, as, if nothing else, she did seem to want to keep Laura safe. That, or maybe someone from the BPRD had stuck around when Hellboy had escorted Sarah Jane off for, they presumed, some kind of testing.

(Naturally, they also wished they could be in on that, but wasn't surprised by the lack of an invitation. Still, maybe the BPRD would share their results later?)

"How would you know?" Perry slurred. "You were staying away from me all night. But there were _lots_ of those fizzy things, so I was okay."

They gave her an odd look, then took the keys she was fumbling with and unlocked her door for her. "Parties aren't really my thing. Besides, you looked like you were having plenty of fun with Laura." Okay, step one accomplished: Perry was in her room. Step two involved getting her ready for bed, since while they didn't remember Perry being a lightweight (though she evidently still wasn't, if she'd been having as many of those Dagons as she claimed), they _had_ seen Perry drunk before, so they knew she was going to be crashing very shortly. That had been the whole reason they'd had to get her back to her room immediately, after all.

"Oh, don' be jealous." She was losing consonants; their time was growing short. "You know you're the only one I wan'."

"Uh-huh." They really weren't sure what she was talking about - knowing Laura was getting serious with Danny, they hadn't really been thought she'd been trying to put the moves on Perry, and the dancing had obviously been her idea - and really didn't have time to figure it out. "C'mon, let's get those clothes off." Perry absolutely hated falling asleep in her clothes, both because of how uncomfortable it was for her and because of the wrinkles and such that resulted in them from doing so.

Perry stared at her for a moment, seemingly astonished, then looked almost overjoyed. (They privately resolved to find out exactly what was _in_ those Fizzy Dagons later, because this really wasn't typical Perry behavior, even drunk.) She promptly began slipping off her party clothes, folding them as carefully as she was currently able and setting them down on a chair.

While she did that - and the fact that, even drunk, Perry was that neat and organized wasn't a surprise, anymore - LaF found a basin and set it near her bed (just in case), then got a couple of ibuprofen and a bottle of water, setting those on the (meticulously organized) bureau that doubled as a nightstand. "Okay," they began, turning back to face Perry. "Are you-"

Perry, wearing a pair of lacy black panties and absolutely nothing else, crashed into them, sending them both tumbling back onto her bed.

"...I guess so." Clearly, Perry was ready for bed. Just as clearly, her balance must have been _gone_ by that point. Maybe they should have let Laura help out, after all.

Perry pushed herself up just enough to look them in the eyes. "I love you, you know that? I really do."

"Perr..."

"No, I mean it." She was starting to look like she might cry. Perry didn't get drunk very often, but when she did, her emotions tended to be all over the place. "I love you. It hurts, sometimes, but I can't stop."

"What are you- Mmmph!" That was all they had time to say before Perry was suddenly kissing them... and their brain momentarily locked up.

Being a student at Silas University tended to expand one's horizons, but this - their childhood friend suddenly turning amorous and trying to stick her tongue down their throat - was so unexpected that they had no real idea how to react to it. They knew they needed to figure it out fast, though, because Perry's mostly naked body was rubbing sensuously against theirs, and her hands were fumbling at their waist, her intentions clear.

It took some effort to push her back enough to gasp in a breath. "Lola, wait."

"I've _been_ waiting," Perry replied, successfully getting one hand down their pants. "Waiting for you to notice me, to really _see_ me." She wasn't touching skin, but the rubbing was becoming... distracting. "I tol' you, I love you."

"You're drunk," LaF countered. They had to be careful, they knew. Perry was clearly in a fragile emotional state, and it likely wouldn't take much to seriously hurt her. "You can at least wait until you're sober, can't you? You're gonna hurt my feelings if all you want is some drunken tumble in the sheets."

It took a moment for the words to break through Perry's drunken haze, but she did pause in her actions, then withdrew her hands and slid off of them... which was good, because while LaF still didn't know what to think about this, their body had been reacting - Perry knew enough about what she'd been doing that it would have been impossible not to - and that could have sent the wrong message. (They hadn't gotten past their initial reaction of "What the holy fuck just happened?!" enough to even consider whether there was even a possibility that it would be anything _but_ the wrong message.) "See?" Perry sniffled. "Even when I'm a huge mess, you take care of me. I love you."

"You'd do the same for me." They weren't touching the second part of her statement, yet. Not without time to process everything. "Now, get some sleep. You're really going to need it, come morning."

"Kiss me goodnight?"

They froze. "That's-"

"Please, Susan?" Clearly, in her drunken state, Perry couldn't quite remember which name or pronouns to use. That just made them even more sure that she shouldn't be making any kind of decisions until she sobered up.

However, having known Perry for as long as they had, they knew that tone. She really, _really_ wanted a kiss, and refusing would just hurt her feelings. Unable to shake the feeling that they were making a big mistake, but unsure what else they could do, they leaned down, which was all the cue Perry needed, wrapping her arms around their neck and kissing them again.

The Fizzy Dagons she'd been consuming had left a distinct taste in her mouth. LaF tried focusing on that instead of what was happening, because this kiss was much slower and far more tender, lending credence to Perry's earlier proclamations of love... which was something they were in no shape to even _begin_ trying to wrap their head around. Fortunately, Perry was falling asleep even as she let go and dropped back to the bed, leaving it to LaF to actually maneuver her under the covers, trying to touch her bare flesh as little as they could get away with.

Once they were she was fully asleep, they couldn't get out of her room fast enough.

One quick stop in their own room - both to pick up something and to try and scrub Perry's lipstick off her face as much as possible - later, they were on their way to meet Laura outside the Library.

Despite having more ground to cover, she'd managed to beat them there, suggesting they'd lost more time taking care of Perry than they'd realized. (They didn't even want to think about the possible implications of that, as the only time they couldn't fully account for was when Perry had been feeling... frisky, to put it delicately.) Laura had what looked like a plastic grocery bag in one hand, and was holding it at arm's length, looking mildly disgusted. Her expression shifted to one of relief when she spotted them, and she wasted no time in handing over the bag once they were close enough. "Is Perry okay?"

"She's sleeping it off." They didn't say a word about what else had happened, and if Laura could see any lingering evidence of it, she wasn't letting on. "What's this?"

"Natalie and Sarah Jane both had those stupid cards stapled to their doors, and there was more of that sludge inside." How exactly she'd gotten into both rooms, she didn't say. "I remembered you mentioning how you wished you'd been able to examine the goop I found when Betty disappeared, so I borrowed some sandwich bags from Natalie and scooped some into them. I used one of her markers to label them, so you'd know which goop was in which room. I don't really have any kind of science classes, so I probably didn't manage to follow any kind of standard protocol for that kind of thing. But I didn't _touch_ any of it, so..." She shrugged.

"Given that you were lacking the proper supplies, I'd say you managed about as well as you could have," LaF assured her. "The labs are locked down right now, but I'll start analyzing this stuff first thing in the morning." Which would, by pure chance, allow her to dodge Perry for a while longer. "Come on, let's get moving before someone spots us and wonders what two students are doing loitering around outside the Library that no one who knows any better goes inside after dark."

"Yeah, that makes me feel better about this," Laura muttered as the two slipped inside. The Library _was_ technically still open - there was even a librarian or two around somewhere - but there was still no one in sight as they walked in. Laura headed straight for the nearest computer terminal, LaF close behind, and waited more-or-less patiently for J.P.'s text interface to pop up. "Are you sure the Library's okay with this, J.P.?" she asked immediately. "I don't want it to think we're trying to go somewhere we're not supposed to be. I don't even have the slightest idea how we'd fend off a ticked off sentient building."

'Quite certain,' J.P. assured her. 'The tome in question isn't technically part of the Library's collection. As such, it has no idea what it says. This would let it find out, as well as acquire additional information it would otherwise never have access to. Permitting me contact with the outside world in exchange is a small price to pay.'

"Okay." She turned to LaF. "You've got the...?"

They pulled something that looked for all the world like a standard flashdrive out of their pocket. "Right here," they confirmed. The Silas Computer Club could be _frighteningly_ efficient when they set their minds to a task, and they'd relished the challenge LaFontaine had handed them. LaF had been assured - multiple times - that the "flash drive" would do exactly what they'd asked for.

"Then let's get going, before I realize how insanely dangerous what we're doing is," Laura decided, heading for the stairway that lead to the basement... and then down into the subbasement. J.P. had assured them in his email the day before that the Library would ensure it would lead to the correct one, as well as providing the best estimate he could of where the book would be found. Even with that, it took almost ten minutes to track it down, and Laura was getting visibly twitchy as they looked.

LaF knew the feeling. They could actually _sense_ the Library's growing impatience in the air, and couldn't be sure whether there was a limit on how cooperative it was going to be or not. Once they had it - it turned out to be a large, leather-bound book that was, as expected, written in what they presumed to be Ancient Sumerian - they wasted no time in following the directions J.P. had provided them to the Library's computer mainframe. They got the idea that it was only grudgingly allowing the two of them access, so the faster they could do this and get out, the better.

Since LaF was the only one who knew what the instructions the Computer Club had provided were, Laura was left with nothing to do but fidget nervously as they worked, at one point flipping open the Sumerian book and staring futilely down at the incomprehensible text. "O...kay," they said finally, removing the 'flashdrive' from the mainframe and shutting down the terminal they'd been working at. "The program's uploaded. Let's head back to your room and test it out."

"Gladly." Laura all but ran out of the mainframe room and back up the stairs, not slowing down until she was safely outside. (LaF, having done pretty much the same thing, hardly had any room to comment on her actions.) "Let's not do this again anytime soon, okay?" she asked as she paused on the Library's front lawn to catch her breath, staring up at the half moon in the sky to center herself as best she could. "Even if that had been in _any_ way fun, I don't like going behind Danny's back like this."

"Hopefully, we won't have to." LaF could hardly promise that it wouldn't ever happen again, but they were no more eager to repeat the experience than Laura was. "Come on. We should get back to your room before Danny calls to check in on you, or something."

"She's not _that_ bad."

"Uh-huh."

"She _isn't!_ "

"Anything you say, Laura..."

 

* * *

 

 

Popping over to Team One's house was something of a risk, but it was one Carmilla was more than willing to take. They had an actual test subject, for once, and she didn't want to miss anything. Even waiting the minute or two it would take them to let the rest of the team know about anything they might find was too long for her, just then.

She did stay out of the way as the testing began, instead grilling Hellboy and his crew about everything that had happened. Bree's actions were somehow simultaneously unexpected and a complete non-surprise. That she'd run off with the evident intent of murdering one of their 'siblings', however... "I'm not sure I see that ending well, even if he _did_ nearly get a sacrifice killed."

"Did this sort of thing ever happen before?" Hellboy asked. Carmilla didn't talk a lot about her past with most people unless it was mission relevant, but she would generally answer his questions. Admittedly, he didn't ask many, as he tended to prefer to focus on the here and now. That was one of the things they had in common.

She shrugged. "There were times when one of us would vanish for whatever reason, and someone new would be brought in. Mother made sure we didn't ask questions about it, but it wasn't hard to guess that they'd died. Aside from Mattie, I didn't really come across any of my 'siblings' during the sacrifice cycle, so..." That did, of course, lead to the obvious thought. "I could always call Mattie, see if she has anything to add on the subject." Over the past few days, Kate had arranged to have a prepaid cell phone delivered to Mattie, so that they'd have a line of communication to her that they could be relatively certain that no one was listening in on. Given the restrictions Mattie was operating under, they knew she wouldn't be much of any help with their mission, but something like this...?

Well, what was a friendly little chat between sisters?

One thing the BPRD had established was that Mattie was _not_ living with Mother. That was probably just because it would look odd for the Mayor of Trofaiach not to be living in the mayoral mansion, but Carmilla didn't care. All that mattered was that she didn't have to worry about their conversation being overheard by the wrong people.

She relocated to the house's kitchen for some measure of privacy - though, really, any kind of real privacy would be an illusion unless she went somewhere else entirely. Still, that would do for now.

It didn't take long for Mattie to answer, which was hopefully a good sign. " _Mir- Ah, Carmilla?_ " One of the few things Carmilla had managed to discreetly convey to her sister was her preferred form of address. Mircalla was dead, twice over.

"Mattie," she replied, not sure how to phrase what she had to say. "So, I know you said you don't keep up to date on what's going on at Silas, but would everything that's going on have changed that, at all?"

" _I'm vaguely aware there's some kind of 'peace luau' or some such thing going on tonight, but that's about it._ " She paused. " _Why?_ "

"Because that's not the only thing that happened." She quickly brought Mattie up to speed. "Would Bree really...?"

She heard Mattie let out a long breath, and subtle background sounds indicated she'd just sat down. " _She was never able to stand Will, right from the beginning,_ " Mattie began slowly. " _Truthfully, I knew how she felt. Mother tried to keep the two of them separate as much as possible, and loaded Bree up with programming to keep any homicidal impulses he might inspire in check. If she really was acting on one, and not just angrily chasing him down to drag him back to Mother, then she's slipped her leash again._ "

"Again?" Carmilla repeated, surprised. "How often does that sort of thing happen?"

" _Not very. As you may recall, Mother always did take care to keep those of us prone to disobedience under close supervision._ "

Oh, yes. She remembered that all too well. That, and the painful psychic reconditioning that came with it. She hadn't been able to remember the latter, at first, but the longer she'd been free from Mother's control, the more memories that Mother had tried to bury had resurfaced. (Frustratingly, none of them had been especially helpful when it came to the abductions and sacrifices.)

" _During the Sacrifice, her attention is split between more of us than usual,_ " Mattie continued. Hopefully, that very fact would keep Mother from realizing Mattie had been talking about something she probably shouldn't have been. Still, as long as they kept the conversation confined to Bree - the one vampire who was on record as _not_ being involved in the kidnappings - it should be fine. " _It isn't uncommon for the especially stubborn ones like Bree to break free, if only to a certain extent. She won't come to you because, whether any programming is still functioning or not, she knows Mother will come for her before long. She usually comes back on her own, if only to lessen any punishment she might receive._ "

"Comes back from where? If not to us, where would she go?"

She knew her sister well enough to know that she was probably smiling sadly as she said, " _The same place she always goes..._ "

Which is what lead Carmilla, about ten minutes later, to set foot in a church for the first time in ages.

It was a fair-sized church for a town that small, she thought, though she would freely admit to knowing little about churches in general, Catholic or otherwise. It was largely empty, so she was easily able to pick up on the faint sound of voices coming from the confessionals... and the smell of fresh blood. Not human, either. It was close, but she'd long ago learned how to tell the difference between human and vampire blood.

And she was willing to bet the blood was _not_ Bree's.

She'd actually seen a lithe blonde form ducking into the church as she'd been getting close, though Bree was (understandably) too preoccupied to be keeping all that close of an eye on her surroundings. Still, Carmilla had kept her distance until she was sure it was safe to approach, giving Bree time to track down one of the priests. He was an older man, and according to Mattie had been preaching at that church for almost fifty years. As such, he was fully aware of exactly what Bree was, and knew how much she hated it. That he treated her just as he would have, had she been merely human... Carmilla had no doubt that helped her, tremendously.

Why Mother hadn't killed him long ago to remove that pillar of support, she had no idea.

She didn't want to get too close, for fear of Bree picking up on her scent again, but the excellent acoustics in the church meant that she didn't have to. She got _just_ close enough to hear Bree begin, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." She paused. "A lot." Another pause. "I mean, _**a lot**_ a lot."

There was a certain wary amusement in the priest's reply. "I get the idea, my daughter."

"Right." She inhaled deeply enough for Carmilla to hear it even as far away as she was. "It has been... slightly over nineteen years, since my last confession."

"I remember."

That alone told Carmilla Bree was going to be there a while. She still didn't want to miss anything that might develop with Sarah Jane... and, while she might not want to admit it to herself, listening in on someone's Confession, whether that person was a vampire or not, just felt wrong. She wasn't part of the Catholic Church - hadn't belonged to _any_ church since she'd died, in fact - but there were some lines even she wouldn't feel comfortable crossing. And really, even if only for this short time, Bree deserved to have at least _some_ measure of privacy.

Carmilla hoped they'd be able to free her for good when they eventually killed Mother, she really did. But if Bree, under Mother's control, got in the way, couldn't be swayed from acting in Mother's defense? Carmilla wouldn't hesitate for a second to take her down.

It might even be the kindest thing she could do for her 'sister'.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

"And... there!" Laura hit the final key with a flourish. (She could have just clicked the mouse button, but this felt more impressive, somehow.) "How's that, J.P.?"

"That should be quite sufficient, Miss Hollis," J.P. replied in the voice he'd selected from the (admittedly somewhat primitive) text-to-speech software she'd downloaded the day before, a British male. He'd modified it somewhat, she thought, to sound a bit more like a Victorian dandy, though that had the side effect of making it sound possibly a bit more digitized than it had before. Whatever, she thought. It worked, and would let them communicate much faster than his previous pseudo-typewriter text method had. "You have my thanks."

"I told you that you can call me Laura," she reminded him. Really, if she and LaFontaine were going to be using his first name (or initials, but it was the same principle), him constantly using her last name was just a little silly. Though, she supposed, he may have been doing that to avoid drawing attention to doing the same with LaF... only that didn't work, since he had to avoid using any titles with them like he just had with her.

It was possible she was getting a bit tired, she privately admitted. Her mind was starting to wander.

"I recall." Though, she noted, he gave no sign he intended on doing so.

Whatever, she thought again. It wasn't like that really mattered, and he might need to get to know her a bit better before his old-fashioned manners would let him feel comfortable addressing her so informally. "So, I don't suppose you can pull up some kind of Sumerian-English dictionary and translate this book if we hold it up in front of the camera?" It would be great, if he could - she'd love to know what the book said _now_ , rather than have to wait and find a cooperative translator elsewhere on campus - but somehow, she doubted it would be that easy.

"Unfortunately, I cannot," he told her apologetically, to her utter lack of surprise. "While I certainly have access to such information, I'm afraid your camera is not able to see the text in the book."

Laura looked over at the book LaF was holding open on their lap in confusion. "How can it not...? It's _right there_."

"Might be something in the wavelength of the ink," LaF mused. "Your webcam might not be sensitive enough. I'll try and track down a scanner that can pick it up."

"Hopefully, it's not magically shielded, or something," Laura grumbled quietly.

"Unlikely," J.P. told her before the science-minded LaFontaine could even comment. "The technology Ind. LaFontaine is referring to did not exist when the book was placed within the Silas Library, and it has not been touched since then. If any magic was employed to hide any text within the tome, it would be to hide it from the naked eye. Truthfully, modern technology may even be able to defeat that, to some extent."

"Oh. Okay." And evidently she'd been wrong before in thinking that J.P. wouldn't have a title to use for LaF, too. It was nice that he was sensitive enough to know that he'd need one. "Good to know." She paused. "I suppose if we can manage to scan the text into the computer, we should email a copy of it to the BPRD, or something." They'd probably have lots of people who could read it.

"You don't want to give them the book?" LaF asked, though they didn't sound like they were advocating doing that so much as asking for clarification.

"Look, whether it technically belongs to the Library or not, I'm not taking this thing off the Silas campus until I know _for certain_ that it's okay to. I was serious when I said I didn't want to try and start a fight with the sentient building." And the other, unspoken reason, that she wasn't entirely sure she could trust them with it. They almost certainly wouldn't tell her what it said, should it be as useful as they hoped it would be.

"Can't argue with that," LaF agreed. Whatever else they might have said was preempted by the sound of someone fumbling with the doorknob, then it being unlocked, and the door swung open to reveal Bree.

Covered in blood.

Whatever greeting Laura might have given died on her lips as she got a good look at her roommate. Bree was still wearing her dress (Laura had dropped the shoes Bree had given her on the floor near the vampire's bed earlier), but Laura was pretty sure there was no saving it, unless the laundry gnomes could work honest to God miracles. It had been torn in a couple places when she'd saved Sarah Jane, and had since picked up at least one other slice in the side. It was also visibly discolored from about her chest to mid-thigh, even if the blood wasn't showing up very well against the black fabric. If it was that dried, it had been a while since she'd been splattered (Laura presumed), which suggested that she'd caught up with Will in short order. After that...

Bree shut the door behind her, and that managed to jolt Laura out of her paralysis. "Oh, my God!" she blurted out, jumping to her feet. "Are you okay?"

"It isn't mine, if that's what you're asking," Bree said flatly, reaching behind her back to unzip the dress, then letting it fall to the floor and stepping out of it, promptly walking over to her bureau and selecting a plain white T-shirt and red shorts that she swiftly pulled on.

"Are you sure?" Laura asked, nudging the dress with her foot and not quite managing to avoid a disgusted reaction to it. "There's... a lot."

"Quite. William knew next to nothing about combat. Unless his opponent was entirely human, where he would have been able to overwhelm them with his speed and strength, he was not going to be able to win many fights. That wasn't his purpose." She finished putting on her shirt, looking briefly satisfied, then looked in the nearby mirror to make sure her face and hair were free of blood. (They were, somehow, which... Laura wasn't sure she even wanted to know how Bree had managed that.)

"What was?" Laura countered, mostly by reflex. If Bree was actually talking about the forbidden subject, for once...

"Bait. You know that," Bree told her, a slight edge to her voice.

"But that isn't yours?"

"Not this time, no." She sat down on her bed, putting on a pair of socks (they'd been laying on the bed since that afternoon, probably since Bree had gotten ready for the luau), then reaching for her sneakers.

Laura knew she _should_ keep pressing her, but... "Where are you going?"

"Mother will be expecting me. It's better if I don't make her come looking for me." Alarmingly, Bree said this in a flat, almost dead tone. Clearly, whatever was waiting for her would not at all be pleasant; just as clearly, putting it off would make things _**worse**_.

"You don't wanna hear about our fun Library adventure?" Laura asked, almost desperately. She still had no idea who Bree was talking about, but she couldn't shake the fear that if Bree left, she wouldn't be coming back. Not the way she was right then, anyway... and possibly not at all.

Bree froze in the act of tying one of her shoes, head jerking sharply in Laura's direction. "Your... Are you _insane_?!"

"I should point out, we don't have a scratch between us," Laura replied.

Bree finished tying her shoes quickly, then stood, eyes narrowing as she examined the two of them... and finally noticed the Sumerian book. "I'm not even going to ask how you managed that," she said finally. "The less I know, the less I can be made to tell."

"Well, I'm gonna be broadcasting this anyway, at least once I find a translator," Laura told her. "You wouldn't exactly be spilling any secrets." Anything that put off her departure as long as possible.

"I've told you before that it was made clear to me that not stopping your investigation and actively aiding it were two separate things." Bree sighed. "One is grudgingly tolerated, the other is not at all."

She knew that, and it wasn't like she _wanted_ to get Bree in trouble. "And... killing Will?" She was still having trouble wrapping her mind around the idea that Bree had literally _just_ killed someone... even if that someone had technically already been dead.

"Oh, I am _absolutely_ going to be hearing about that," Bree agreed, a look of quiet dread on her face.

Laura didn't want to think about what might have been causing that. "What did you do with... his body... anyway?" Not that _that_ was necessarily a better line of thought.

"Put it in the morgue," Bree said simply, and Laura got the idea that she wasn't going to want to ask any follow-up questions about that. Not even about the official reason Silas had its own morgue.

"Right... But, well, what are you going to tell me that could make things worse?"

"A lot of things." She shook her head. "I'm going to say this once, while I'm actually able: leave."

Laura blinked. "What?"

"Pack up your belongings and go home. Farther, if you can manage it. You haven't been infected, yet, but that _will_ change if you continue pushing your luck. The effort Mother's going to have to expend to help Sarah Jane get free will annoy her enough; your continued defiance will _not_ be tolerated for much longer. I won't be able to save you." She paused, then quietly admitted, "I'm not sure I'll even remember wanting to."

Laura felt cold. "Well... I've got plenty of videos to jog your memory, if it comes to that."

"I don't remember you being such a defeatist," J.P. offered.

Bree started. "What the...?"

"That's... one of the things you didn't wanna know about," Laura told her. "I know 1874 was a long time ago, but do you remember a student named J.P. Armitage?"

It took a few seconds for recognition to set in, then Bree's eyes widened. "What...? How are you- Actually, _where_ are you?"

"Within the Library catalogue."

"He's how we convinced it to play nice long enough to retrieve that book," Laura added, gesturing toward it. "I don't suppose you know how to read Sumerian?"

"Isn't that what _you_ were looking for, back then?" Bree asked J.P., seemingly ignoring Laura. She kenw Bree well enough, however, to know that she was doing no such thing. She was far too well-mannered to do that. "Why would you direct _them_ to the same thing?"

"Because the Library wants to know what it says as much as we do," LaF said, speaking up for the first time since Bree had gotten back. "So, do you?"

Bree glared, then sighed heavily. "Of course. As the Replacement, it was required of me."

If she hadn't already suspected it, that would have clued Laura in to the fact that Bree had never been referring to Betty when she'd called herself that. Why she was there at all if she wasn't serving as bait, and who she _had_ been talking about...? Well, Laura would love to ask, if there was time. First things first, though. "You can't tell me you're not at all curious about what this thing says, after all this time."

"You know what happened the last time I had _anything_ to do with that book."

"I also have a fair idea what's likely to happen to me if we can't stop your Mother from taking girls to feed them to that Hungry Light thing," Laura countered. "I think that would be worse."

Bree gave a quiet, humorless laugh. "Perhaps so." Muttering something under her breath in French - Laura wasn't sure about a lot when it came to Bree, but she was willing to bet that was her native language, though she'd long since lost her accent - she stepped closer and took the book, frowning down at it. "So much trouble you've caused," she murmured, flipping through the pages. "No... no... no... blank page... no... no... _really_ no..." Her expression turned to one of confusion. "That's... not even Sumerian. I don't know _what_ that is." She turned the page. "Well, whatever it is, it's followed by a lot more blank pages. After that is... obscure weapons, obscure myths, step-by-step instructions for summoning... Well, you don't really want to know. Nothing that sounds like what you're looking for, though."

"Do I even want to know about the pages you _could_ read?"

"That depends. How much do you enjoy Lovecraft?"

"Ah." Somehow, she wasn't even surprised. To J.P., she said, "What you were saying before, about hiding text from human - and apparently vampire - eyes... Do you have any ideas how we might go about determining if something _is_ there, and if so, how to read it?"

"There are a number of possibilities, but experimenting could potentially destroy the very information we're seeking."

"And given how much you in particular have gone through to get it..." Laura sighed. "Are there any _safe_ ways to figure out what might have been used to hide it? If we knew that, we might be able to find a way to make it visible again."

"Perhaps. I shall have to do some investigating."

"And I need to get going," Bree announced. Anticipating Laura's objection, she held up a hand to cut it off before it could start. "Putting it off won't make things any better."

"I guess... I just-"

"No," Bree interrupted. "Laura, listen to me. If I don't come back, or if I'm... not quite right, if I do, go to the church in town. You know the one I mean." There was, naturally, more than one church in Trofaiach, but Bree _had_ told Laura which one she typically went to on Sunday mornings... even if she couldn't do much in the way of active participation. "Ask for Father Jakob. Tell him I sent you. He'll be expecting you. I... left a few things with him. Things that I... can't have, anymore." Likely meaning they were blessed, or otherwise not vampire-friendly. "If I'm not able to protect you... you'll need them. And be more careful about who you trust."

"What?" Laura asked, but, true to form, Bree left before she could be made to explain.

Perfect.

 

* * *

 

 

"Laura, wait!"

Recognizing Danny's voice, Laura obediently slowed her pace to let her girlfriend catch up. "Hey, Danny." She didn't feel _entirely_ self-conscious about the stares they were likely getting as Danny bent down to give her a kiss. "What happened last night? Did you find Natalie?"

"No," Danny admitted reluctantly. "There wasn't any sign of her. What happened with Sarah Jane?"

"The BPRD took her off for testing, and to protect her." Or that was what she'd managed to piece together, anyway. "As for Bree, she... caught up with Will. I... don't think we need to worry about him, anymore."

"Gotcha." Danny grimaced, but didn't look terribly surprised. Honestly, now that she'd gotten past the shock of seeing her blood-drenched roommate walk through the door, neither was Laura. "What about her?"

"She... had to go see her mother. She hasn't come back, yet." Laura was trying not to worry too much about that, telling herself that some vampires might be more nocturnal than Bree seemed to be, and her 'mother' might not be awake enough to send her back until that evening.

It wasn't working.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Danny offered somewhat convincingly. "I mean, he had it coming, right?"

Laura scraped up a weak smile. "I guess." She didn't feel comfortable judging such a thing. "Speaking of people nowhere to be found, have you seen Perry? I mean, I know she's probably all kinds of hungover this morning, but from what I've heard, she didn't even miss class when she had the flu last year. Not until she was confined to the infirmary, anyway."

"I remember that," Danny said, making a face. "It was... not pretty." She shook her head. "Haven't seen her around, though. Who knows? After that whole thing, the doctor may have made sure she knew not to try going to class in that kind of condition again."

"Yeah, maybe." That would make sense, and might even explain the disapproving look she'd given Laura for Danny's fake food poisoning story. She was just letting her worry for Bree - and her worry about the last thing Bree had told her before leaving - get to her. She'd probably meant new people, anyway, like Carmen (who'd sent her a few playfully teasing texts since seeing the video she'd filmed and posted at Danny's apartment).

Suspecting Perry of _anything_ would just be silly.

One corner of Danny's mouth pulled up. "Perry's far from the only person I've noticed hasn't shown up for any morning classes today, too. At this rate, we're not going to be allowed to serve alcohol at any more parties for a while."

Laura couldn't stop a brief laugh. "No drunken numbskulls? Oh, darn."

"I know, right?" They headed back to Laura's room, chatting about inconsequential matters (Laura feeling too paranoid about being overheard to discuss anything more serious where they might be overheard).

They found LaFontaine waiting for them near Laura's door. "There you are!" they exclaimed.

"Here we are," Laura agreed, unlocking the door so they could go inside. "What's up? Oh, and have you seen Perry this morning? She hasn't shown up for any of her classes."

"I know." Right, LaF probably knew Perry's schedule better than anyone else. "Experience tells me she isn't going to want to _move_ for a while, let alone go to class. Anyway, I got the results back on the fluid from Sarah Jane and Natalie's rooms."

"Already? That was fast." Also... Maybe Laura was imagining it, but it seemed like LaF was changing the subject away from Perry as fast as they could. "And it seemed more like sludge than fluid, to me."

"It had partially congealed by the time you got to it," LaF told her. "It was lucky you got there before it had totally solidified. And I probably wouldn't have at any other school, but this is Silas; I got a match in less than an hour. It's cerebral spinal fluid."

"Is that what I think it is?" Laura asked hesitantly.

"It's the fluid in your brain sack," they confirmed.

"So I... stuck my hand in a puddle of Betty's brain fluid?" She gave a full-body shudder. "Ughhh."

"Oh, it gets better than that," LaF said, expression somewhere between sympathetic and apologetic.

That, Laura decided, couldn't be a good sign. "Oh, of course it does..." she said faintly.

"And how exactly are we defining better, in this context?" Danny added, walking over to stand near Laura, who was looking over LaFontaine's shoulder, as they were seated at her desk.

LaF woke up Laura's computer - she hadn't wanted to shut it off, in case J.P. found something while she was gone - and connected an actual flash drive to the USB port next to J.P.'s. Fortunately, his interface window wasn't visible. She was going to tell Danny about him, of course, but just then, that would only distract from what LaF was telling them. (Even if that was starting to seem like a good idea...) "Like I said, identifying it took less than an hour. The rest of the time was spent getting some time with the electron microscope - there's a waiting list - and looking at it with that, at which point I found..." They brought up a new screen on the monitor. "...these."

Laura peered at the image... and jumped back, almost landing in Danny's arms. "Holy crapsticks, what are those?!"

"I think it's some kind of parasite. I called up the BPRD and ran this past them, and they confirmed that Sarah Jane's still showing signs of being infected, so the fluid we keep finding isn't due to the parasites being rejected from the body, or something."

"Infected... That's the same word Bree used," Laura realized. "Do you think she knew about this?"

"I doubt it," Danny said with a shrug. At Laura's look, she added, "Didn't she say something about that 'mother' of hers not telling her children anything they didn't _need_ to know?"

That wasn't exactly what Bree had said, but Laura didn't doubt that it was also true. "Something like that." To LaF, she asked, "Did they say anything else?" She didn't remember if she'd left the camera on, or if J.P. had somehow turned it on (which she didn't think he should have been able to do), but she was glad it was recording, whether she'd be allowed to broadcast this or not.

"Apparently, the parasites are also altering Sarah Jane's blood chemistry. I'm not sure any vampires even _could_ feed from her, at this point."

"Well... I guess that's one way to make sure the sacrifices don't get snacked on?" Laura said uneasily, remembering all-too-well that one of the first things Bree had said after Laura confronted her about her true nature was that she knew Laura was off-limits. "We really need to figure out a way to read that book."

"What book?" Danny asked.

Laura hesitated... then sighed. "Yeah... You might wanna sit down for this one. This is gonna be kind of a long story..."


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

Filling Danny in hadn't taken very long.

A good part of that was likely due to Laura 'neglecting to mention' just _when_ it was she'd gotten her hands on the Sumerian book, letting Danny think she'd gotten it during her daylight excursion to the Library the other day. (Though she _would have_ , if there'd been a way to actually do so, so she shouldn't feel _too_ guilty about the lie of omission... or so she kept telling herself.) She and LaFontaine also glossed over the details about what had been required to link J.P. to her computer. She was pretty sure Danny understood that he wasn't _on_ the flash drive, though, which made sense. It only had a 32 GB memory capacity, after all.

She _was_ going to be posting all this online. She'd sent the BPRD a text letting them know, but they had to have been expecting this, given that they'd actually shared information with LaFontaine. It wasn't like everyone knowing about the parasites would jeopardize their investigation somehow, after all, and Bree...

Well, somehow, she doubted they cared all that much about Bree.

The same couldn't be said for her. As the day wore on and there was no sign of her roommate, Laura was almost sick with worry. By mid-afternoon, once she got out of her Spanish class (she'd asked around, and there actually _were_ Sumerian classes and texts at Silas, but they were only available to upperclassmen, and Bree's warning kept her from telling anyone why she was asking), she'd had enough. She dropped off her books in her room - there was _still_ no sign of Bree, not even a text message - and headed off campus into town.

She wanted to believe she was being silly. She tried telling herself that, but she just couldn't believe that. Bree had probably meant for her to wait longer than this, but, well, she'd admit to not being the most patient person ever. Besides, she reasoned, better to go now than wait, and not realize until it was too late that she'd missed her chance.

And maybe she was feeling a little vulnerable by herself. Whether fully on their side or not, Bree was kind of Laura's primary vampire deterrent. With her not around...

Laura could have gone to Danny. She knew that. And it wasn't that she was trying to be brave and noble, refusing help from her friends for fear of dragging them into trouble with her. The kidnappings, the vampires... It was everyone's problem. But she also refused to sit back and be some kind of damsel in distress. Danny would be protecting her either way, but the more she was able to keep herself safe, the less of a distraction or hindrance she'd be.

Though, if she were being honest with herself, she knew full well that the odds were good that she'd be right there, on the front lines, whether anyone from Danny to the BPRD liked it or not.

She also had time to kill while her newest update rendered. She was a little nervous about leaving the Sumerian book unattended, but she hadn't been kidding when she'd told LaF that she wasn't going to risk taking it off campus until she was _sure_ that was okay. She'd locked the door and left her camera running, and J.P. would be texting her if anyone broke in to sneak a look at it. She wasn't sure that would be enough, but it was all she could do. That, and try not to be out for too long.

She just hoped she wouldn't offend the priest. She was pretty sure she needed all the help she could get from that quarter.

Upon arriving at the church, there was nothing Laura could see that would indicate why Bree would prefer that particular church over any of the others. Who knew? Maybe she switched off now and then, to avoid attracting too much attention, and it was simply this one's turn? Possible, she supposed. And she was stalling, she realized. Now that she was there, she had no idea how to start the conversation, presuming the priest Bree had mentioned was even there.

" _Kann ich Dir helfen?_ "

She jumped. She couldn't help it, really. She'd been so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't even noticed someone walking up to her. "I-I'm sorry, I was... distracted," she stammered out. She was fluent enough in German that she could switch from English to that without any further difficulty than that brief stumble. The man standing near her seemed a little too young to be the one she was looking for, but that wasn't a surprise. Unless Father Jakob had been keeping an eye out for her, there was really no reason for him to just randomly be standing around in the empty nave. "I'm looking for Father Jakob. Is he here? It's important."

The man - she probably should have introduced herself, she realized belatedly; oh, well, hopefully she wouldn't seem _too_ rude - didn't so much as bat an eye at her question. Did Catholic priests have to be available at all hours, in case someone wandered in to confess their sins, or something? Not being Catholic herself, she didn't really know. If it made her seem less odd - and gave her a reason not to explain what she was doing there - then she'd go with it. "I believe he just arrived. If you'll come with me, please?"

"Thank you."

The man - he was probably a junior priest, she thought, judging by the thin white collar he was wearing along with his otherwise black ensemble - lead her back out of the church itself and into the reception hall. He was about five-foot-seven, with short sandy brown hair, and warm brown eyes. He certainly seemed like a friendly enough guy, whoever he was, if a bit trusting: the secret vampire ruling council might have been a surprise to her, but if this church had been around for a while, surely they must have known about them. The grounds couldn't be consecrated, or Bree wouldn't have been able to regularly attend services. Maybe they blessed their clothes, or something? She wasn't sure how to ask without sounding insane if this priest _didn't_ know about vampires being real, so she kept her mouth shut as they headed for the clergy's offices.

Father Jakob, it turned out, was an older man, in his late 60s or early 70s. His age didn't seem to have slowed him down at all, though. While his short-trimmed hair was gray with a few specks of white mixed in (hardly a surprise, given the town he lived in), his blue eyes were still bright and vibrant. "What can I do for you, my daughter?" he asked, gesturing toward an empty seat. His office was mostly hardwood furniture, though Laura found as she sat down that the chairs were padded enough to be comfortable. There were a couple of small bookcases crammed full of books, the surface of his desk had a number of neatly organized stacks of papers, and there were pictures all over of people she didn't recognize. While the reporter in her wanted nothing more than to take notes on everything, the worried friend part of her insisted she immediately get down to business.

She managed to wait until the other man had left, still trying to figure out how to start this conversation as she did, then finally gave up and blurted out, "My name's Laura Hollis. I, ah... I go to Silas University, and my roommate, Bree - um, Sabrina Vale - said that..." She trailed off, honestly unsure how to continue.

Fortunately, she didn't have to. "Ah, Fräulein Hollis." Father Jakob sighed, smiling sadly. "I've been expecting you. Bree suggested that you would be here before even an entire day had passed." His smile collapsed. "I presume, then, that she has not yet come back from the creature that insists on being called her mother?"

"Um, no." She paused. "You've known Bree for a while, I take it?"

"I've been with this church for nearly fifty years. She introduced herself to me on my first night." Another brief, sad smile. "It took her nearly two months to work up the courage to admit to her true nature, though many in the clergy had, by then, guessed."

"And you were... okay with it?"

"We'll not turn away any soul seeking God's light, no matter how far from the path she's been pulled."

And she was probably being pulled further while they sat there talking about it. "She said she left some things with you?" Laura winced slightly. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem rude... Well, she probably told you about what's going on at Silas. I understand that you can't share any of that with me-" Which didn't mean she wasn't at all frustrated that she was sitting across a desk from someone who likely had _all_ the answers she both wanted and needed, but wasn't going to tell her any of them. "-but you likely know why I might be in a hurry." It was unfortunate, really. He seemed like a perfectly lovely man, and any other time she would have been fine sitting there talking to him. "Bree's in trouble, I just know it."

Father Jakob sighed. "I fear you are correct in that." He opened a drawer in his desk and withdrew a slender aged oak wooden box, which he handed to her.

Curious, Laura turned it around and opened it. There were several compartments, though she couldn't tell what the box had been originally designed for. There were a few small crosses, what she presumed was a set of rosary beads, a couple of thin glass vials with what looked like some kind of oil in them, a pair of cross-shaped earrings... and a crucifix. There was something odd about it, though... She set the box down on her lap and gingerly picked up the crucifix. For some reason, she got the feeling that everything in that box was fairly old, and of some kind of serious value, if only sentimental or historical. Why Bree was trusting her with it, she had no idea. "What this?" she asked softly, holding it up for Father Jakob to see.

"Ah." His sad smile was back. "That particular crucifix belonged to the Mother Abbess of Nonnberg Abbey when they took Bree in after her family died. She's never explained how it came to be in her possession, but while any blessed object causes her physical pain, that, more than any other, she could not bear to be rid of."

Laura felt like she'd been punched in the stomach, and studied the crucifix to give herself time to recover. It showed a large amount of wear on the bottom lower portion of the cross, as if it had rubbed for an extended period of time, exposing the silverplate underneath where the wood inlay had all but worn away. There was also minor wear to the bottom edge and tip of the crossbar on the one side of the crucifix, though not the other. In the center of the cross bars was a brass St Benedict medal that showed the backside of the coin or medal (she wasn't sure what to call it) on the back of the crucifix, like it was a halo. This crucifix hadn't just been something to display, it had been something worn - something used - on a daily basis. Perhaps it had been given to young Bree when it had reached a point where it was no longer suitable for the head of an abbey to wear, but that she'd kept it for _this_ long... Laura made a decision. "I'm only holding onto these for her until she can take them back," she proclaimed, slipping the crucifix carefully over her neck.

"Of course."

Nonnberg Abbey... Why did that sound so familiar? She'd read the name somewhere, she thought, not all that long ago... Oh, now she remembered. "Huh. No wonder she was trying to pretend she wasn't tearing up during the beginning of the movie when Danny and I were watching The Sound of Music." Still one of her favorite movies. "That's in Austria, isn't it? Salzburg, I think? Do they - or did they ever, I guess - know what happened to her?"

Father Jakob looked pained. "They are aware. She is... one of the tragedies of their order. I'm certain they would welcome her return... but she will not even hear of it. Unless she can be freed of her current restrictions for good, I doubt she would ever even approach the subject."

"Well... I'll just have to see what I can do about that, then." Laura closed the box and stood up. "Thank you for your time, Father, but I must be going. I have much to do, and less time to do it in."

He stood with her, extending his hand. "I am always happy to help, my daughter. May God go with you."

Given that she was currently trying to save a vampire, and her chief allies in the battle against the other vampires were a demon and a fish man... "At this point, I'll take all the help I can get." She paused. "Though, um, if you had, say, some spare holy water on hand...?"

As it turned out, he did.

She practically ran back to Silas - times like this, she regretted not owning a bicycle or moped or something - less because she was worried about being out in the open than because she didn't want to be seen carrying what she was. Blessed items, holy water... By vampire standards, she was probably a heavily armed terrorist, or something. The sun was setting by the time she got back to her room, and Bree _still_ wasn't back. Hopefully, Laura hadn't missed her or something while she was out. J.P. confirmed that no one had been there while she was gone, though, and a quick check showed that the book was still fine - and still just as unreadable to her. She shoved the wooden box under her bed (while he'd been getting her the holy water, Father Jakob had told her that even the wood of the box itself was consecrated, so none of her undead classmates - whoever they might be - could even touch it), then set about dividing the large sports bottle's worth of holy water into more conveniently-sized containers, including one 3 oz spray bottle that she planned on keeping on her at all times.

It took a moment for her to realize that the door - which she _knew_ she'd shut, this time - was open, and Bree was standing in the doorway, watching her.

Laura froze, staring at her. Bree stared back.

An entire minute passed.

"...Bree?"

"Laura." Bree stepped into the room, quietly shutting the door behind her. Normal enough behavior for her, but something was... off.

"Are you... okay?" Laura hurriedly capped the holy water bottle, barely noticing as she spilled some on her hands, and stood up from where she'd been sitting in front of her bed as she worked.

"Perfectly." Her expression was more neutral than anything else.

"Where have you _been_? I was so worried!"

"With Mother. You knew I would be. She needed to explain a few things to me." She was wearing the same outfit she had been when she'd left, which was... something, Laura supposed. Bree had walked over to stand near her own bed, eyeing Laura's computer... and J.P.'s display. There was still no discernable expression on her face, and her movements were clinical and precise. Cold. Laura had never been nervous around Bree before, but this...

...this still wasn't doing it. She was _aware_ of possible danger, yes, but her concern _for_ Bree was pushing any (justifiable) fear that she might have been inspiring so far into the back of her mind that Laura honestly wouldn't have known it was there, even if she'd felt like looking. "And... Will?"

A negligent shrug. "She forgave me for acting out of turn in dealing with him. He'd become such an embarrassment, though, and too obvious of a link back to her, that she might well have killed him herself. This saved her the time and effort."

"Well, that's... good?"

"It means I'm not going to end up messily dead, at any rate," Bree said dryly. It sounded so much like her normal self that Laura felt a surge of hope that the real Bree was still in there, after all.

She just had to keep her there. "I did what you said."

Bree gave her a flat look. "I appreciate your concern, Laura, but I'm fine."

"Fine enough to tell me what's going on with the missing girls?"

"I could take you to them now, if you wanted. Not that you'd remember it."

Laura started. "Well, if you-"

"No, you would not be allowed to make a phone call first," Bree interrupted. "Nor would I tell you where we were going, and _that_ -" She pointed at the Charm of Maugris. "-would not be coming with us."

"I'll... pass on that, then." She wanted to know where the missing girls were, but letting herself be taken would be entirely pointless if she didn't _remember_ where she'd been taken _to_.

"I suspected you might." Bree raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have a class in twenty minutes?"

She did. But she also wasn't going anywhere until she knew Bree was going to be okay - because she certainly wasn't right then. "I know. I'm just... really glad you're okay." She stepped closer and pulled Bree into a hug, locking her hands together against Bree's back and holding on as tightly as she could.

Because Bree reacted to the holy water still on her hands immediately, and the crucifix (which she'd slipped under her shirt so no one would see it) began feeling uncomfortably warm, meaning it had to be hurting Bree, too. "Laura-"

"I'm sorry!" She squeezed tighter, if only to _try_ and keep Bree's arms pinned against her side. Ordinarily, she'd have less than no chance of doing so, but she was wearing vampire kryptonite, and she knew there was some part of Bree that didn't _want_ to get away. She just had to help that part win. "I'm really sorry, Bree, but you're my friend! I'm not going to sit back and let that woman twist your mind! _Think._ You know me. You know _us_. You _care_ about us. You told me to run, but I can't leave you like this, a prisoner inside your own mind. So fight it, Bree! I know you can! So does Father Jakob." Bree wasn't pulling free, but she was moving around the room, trying to shake Laura off. "And so does-" Bree slammed her into a wall, loud enough to likely be heard in the neighboring dorm - and that was on the _other_ side of their suite. "...God," Laura said, partly to finish her sentence from before, and partly because that had _hurt_. She stubbornly maintained her grip, though, ignoring the quiet, _horrible_ pained noises Bree was making.

This had to work. It was all she had.

"L-Laura..."

"Over and over, you've fought your way free of your programming." Not that Bree had ever really come right out and _said_ that, but Laura knew how to read between the lines. "Do it again. She'll never expect it this soon, so she won't think to check. Please, you have to at least _try_!" Bree made a gurgling sound... then went limp. The sudden deadweight nearly dragged Laura down to the floor, but she managed to redirect the two of them onto Bree's bed. "Bree?"

No answer.

"Bree!"

Still nothing.

Even when Laura let go and sat up, Bree didn't move. "Oh, God... Did I kill her, or something? I mean, how do you check that with someone who's technically already dead?" she asked J.P., eyes wide.

"Contrary to some myths, vampires _do_ have a pulse," J.P. told her. "I believe their skin would be rather translucent, otherwise."

"Right." That made sense. She clung to the solid, reliable science of it, and some small part of her in the back of her mind wondered if that was why LaFontaine was so into their field of studies as they were. She could ask later, she supposed. As calmly as she was able, she fumbled at Bree's neck... then hastily leapt off the bed and dashed into the bathroom to wash her hands, in case any holy water had dried on them. That done, she raced back into the main dorm room, ignored the way she cracked her shin on Bree's bedframe as she nearly fell on top of the vampire in her haste to get back in a position to check her pulse, frantically trying to remember everything she'd learned in the first-aid classes her Dad had insisted she take.

It was there. Bree's pulse was a bit more thready and erratic than she was used to from her lessons, but she had no idea if that was normal for a vampire or not. All that mattered to Laura was that Bree's pulse _existed_. Whether or not she was alive, she wasn't dead. "Oh, thank God," she said softly, leaning back against the wall, trying to calm down as her body slowly began noticing there was no danger, anymore, and slowed down with the adrenaline. She was shaky as hell and felt like she might throw up, but that didn't matter.

She hadn't killed Bree. She still didn't know if she'd helped her break free of her control or not, but she hadn't killed her.

Everything else could be figured out later.


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Given that my previous posting schedule has pretty much been shot to hell - and since I only started that to provide Carmilla content on Tuesdays and Thursdays after season 2 ended, and season 3 is coming - there's really no reason I can't post this chapter _now_ , since I finished early, is there? So, enjoy! ^_^

* * *

For obvious reasons, Laura skipped her evening class.

Hopefully, the fact that Danny hadn't missed any of her own that day (that Laura knew of) would stop any additional rumors from floating around. That was a reputation she didn't particularly feel like developing. She also hoped that it would take a while for the fact that she was blowing off another class to get back to Danny. (She wasn't so foolish as to think that Danny just wouldn't hear about it. She might not hover or try to keep Laura in a hamster ball like her father did, but she was fully aware that Danny was _always_ keeping an eye on her. Hopefully, that would lighten up once they weren't in the middle of a supernatural crisis situation.) The last thing she needed was anyone, even her concerned girlfriend, barging into her room. She'd locked the door, but was under no delusion that a mere lock would be enough to stop a worried Danny.

It had been an hour, and Bree still hadn't woken up.

Laura was trying not to start panicking, really she was. Bree's pulse hadn't changed in that time, as far as she could tell, which she hoped was a good sign. She also didn't seem to be in any pain. She just... wouldn't wake up. All Laura could do was wait, and desperately hope she hadn't managed to seriously injure her roommate. Yes, her impulsive strategy to shock Bree out of her mind-whammied state had meant she couldn't exactly be gentle, but she should have only been out temporarily. She'd even checked - as discreetly as she could - to see how badly she'd burned Bree with the crucifix, only to find that her skin was just mildly red where it had been pressed up against her, as if she'd had a rather light sunburn. Had she already healed most of the damage by the time Laura had looked, or had the various layers of clothing the two had been wearing been enough to diminish the injury? (Really, if that was all it took, why wouldn't Bree just bundle up as much as she could get away with and wear it herself?)

At the seventy-five minute mark, Laura reluctantly conceded that she might just need some help.

Her first thought, as it usually was in such cases, was to call Danny. She and Bree seemed to get along well enough, though Danny had subtly implied she'd be happier if Laura wasn't sharing living space with someone who could potentially be ordered to abduct her at any time, and be compelled to obey whether she wanted to or not. It wasn't an entirely unreasonable fear, and Bree herself likely would have agreed if they'd ever voiced it in front of her. Still, though, just liking Bree wasn't the same as knowing how to help her, and Danny had never given any sign that she knew more than the most basic of information about vampires.

Her next thought, naturally, was LaFontaine. If anyone on campus would have researched everything they could about vampires, it was LaF. Admittedly, their remarks about having wanted to conduct who knew what manner of experiments on Will told Laura that their knowledge on the subject was clearly incomplete, but if there was something physically wrong with Bree, surely a Bio Major would have some idea how to go about figuring out exactly what the problem was and correcting it? Maybe, but that would also probably involve running _God_ only knew what kind of tests, which would likely mean bringing Bree down to the lab. Not only would that mean calling for additional help to transport her - Danny or Kirsch would be her first choices for carrying her, but Danny would _obsessively_ hover over Laura in that case, and she had no idea if Kirsch knew about what had happened to Will or not - but Laura also didn't want to take Bree out where people could see her in the state she was in. She didn't want word getting back to Bree's "mother" that she might have thrown off her conditioning again already. (Partially out of wanting some kind of element of surprise, but mostly due to concern for Bree.)

She could call the BPRD, she supposed. As Abe had said that one time, research was one of the main things they did. If they could (somehow) recognize that Bree was a vampire just from her videos, maybe they'd also know enough about them to figure out what was wrong? Maybe. But they might also decide that, if her control _had_ been even somewhat loosened, they should bring her in and interrogate her about what she knew regarding the missing girls, and who was taking them. And maybe that was something they needed to know, but Laura wasn't going to let them potentially torture Bree just to find out. (She'd seen how hard it was for Bree to answer even a simple question that she wasn't supposed to. Even _trying_ to tell them what they wanted to know might well tear her apart.) Admittedly, she didn't actually know that they'd do anything like that, but she also didn't know them well enough to know that they wouldn't. Which meant that telling them about what she'd done wasn't going to be happening until Bree could defend herself.

"What am I missing?" she finally asked J.P.

"I'm sorry?" Having not been privy to her thoughts, he naturally had no idea what she was talking about.

"With Bree. There doesn't _seem_ to be any reason for her to be unconscious, but she just won't wake up." J.P. had walked her through a few basic physical tests. Her reflexes were fine, her pupils reacted to light normally (for vampires), her breathing was steady... Laura had even poked her a couple times with the tip of one of the smaller crosses out of sheer desperation. Bree had reacted to the external stimuli, but that also could have been just mere reflex action. None of the more normal methods had gotten any kind of response. "Did I... break her, or something?"

"Given that you were attempting to counteract the mental control her 'mother' had her under, it's likely there _isn't_ anything physically wrong with her," he replied, which was what she'd been afraid of. There wasn't anything she could do about _that_ but wait. "As for how to help her... She _is_ a vampire. Perhaps she needs blood."

Or maybe there _was_ something she could do. "Oh, of **course**!" she burst out, feeling an urge to start kicking herself. "How did I not even think of that?" It was so obvious, in retrospect. She frantically looked around for an appropriate tool, snatched up a pair of scissors from Bree's table (she wasn't sure what her roommate used them for, but they were sharp and pointy enough that she didn't care, right then), and placed one tip against her wrist.

"Miss Hollis!" J.P. exclaimed, sounding shocked.

She barely noticed. Was that the best spot? She didn't want to sever a vein or anything. Maybe just a deep puncture in what she was pretty sure was a safe spot? It might provoke Bree into unconsciously biting her, but at least then someone who knew what they were doing would be in control of-

" _Laura!_ "

"Gah!" She started, fortunately jerking the scissors _away_ from herself in the process. "What?"

"I believe there are a number of bottles in your refrigerator that would be far safer to make use of."

"...oh, right." She again had to resist the urge to facepalm, though her concern for Bree was still so prevalent that it wasn't hard. "I totally forgot about those. Thanks." She absently tossed the scissors back where she'd gotten them from even as she stood and hurried toward the fridge. "At least now I know what it takes to get you to use my first name."

"I would ask you not to make a habit out of such experimentation." If his voice hadn't been synthesized, she suspected he would have sounded rather shaken, just then. Given that she hadn't exactly been planning on doing any such thing this time, naturally she couldn't make any promises on not doing so again in the future, so she didn't reply. "While I suspect Miss Vale would be touched you would be willing to provide such a donation, I believe she would also chastise you for taking such a foolish risk the moment she was able to."

Probably true. "Well, I won't bring it up if you don't," she said as she grabbed one of Bree's blood bottles and shut the door... then, after a pause, opened it back up and grabbed two more. They weren't all _that_ big, after all, and one might not be enough. "And while we're at it, let's not mention this to Danny." Knowing that her girlfriend had almost risked opening a vein - deliberately, no less - would trigger an _epic_ freakout, she was sure.

J.P. clearly knew that, too. "Quite."

Laura considered pouring the blood into a mug or glass to heat it up like Bree usually did, but she wasn't sure of the appropriate times, and didn't want to risk burning her, or possibly making the blood congeal into an undrinkable sludge. That, and she was feeling far too impatient to wait any longer. Besides, Bree had used to drink it cold when Laura was around, so she clearly _could_ do so just fine.

She climbed back onto the bed, then hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. It wasn't like Bree could suffocate or drown, at least, but if she didn't swallow the blood, it wasn't going to be doing her any good. Finally, she curled her legs up under her and moved Bree's head onto her lap, hoping gravity would be enough to at least get things started. "Come on, Bree, work with me, here," she muttered as she twisted the cap off the bottle, then pried Bree's jaws open and poured the blood in as carefully as she could. (She probably would have been fairly disgusted by the whole thing if she hadn't been so worried.) To her immense relief, Bree's throat moved, indicating she was indeed swallowing it. "Oh, thank God," she breathed, which might even have been an accurate statement given what had transpired that evening, for all she knew. "Atta girl, Bree. Keep it up." The first bottle was empty before she knew it, so she recapped it and set it aside, then opened the second and began the process again. "Oh please, God, let this work." She felt anxiety begin clawing at her when the second bottle also ran dry with no change, and shoved it down the best she could. This was the only idea she had. If it didn't work...

No, she told herself firmly. It could still work. She wasn't going to admit defeat until she'd gone through every one of those bottles that Bree had without any effect.

Fortunately, she didn't have to wait _that_ long. She'd barely started on the third when Bree shifted on the bed, making a weak swatting motion in the vague direction of the bottle. Laura hurriedly pulled it away even as Bree finally opened her eyes, blinking up at Laura in confusion. She coughed once, then managed, "Laura? What the...?"

Sheer force of habit was the only thing that made Laura remember to put the cap back on the bottle before dropping it onto the bed. "Are you okay?" she asked, watching Bree anxiously as she waited for an answer.

Bree considered that. "I... _think_ so, yes," she said slowly as she sat up and swiveled to face Laura. "What-?"

That was as far as she got before Laura let out a cry of sheer relief, launching herself forward into a hug, knocking Bree onto her back on the bed in the process. "Oh, thank God! I was so scared that I'd hurt you even though the idea was to hurt you but I mean _really_ hurt you because you just wouldn't wake up and I didn't know what to do so I just-"

"Laura!" Bree interrupted with a pained-sounding laugh. "I get the idea, but first, well, please get off me. You're still wearing the crucifix, so this is-"

"Ack!" Laura scrambled off of Bree as quickly as she could. "I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, sliding off the bed and taking another step away, even as she hastily began pulling the chain up over her head.

"You can keep it on," Bree said, though by the time she'd finished, Laura had already removed it - losing a few hairs in the process - and tossed it onto her own bed. "Really, it's o-"

As she really should have expected, the moment it was safe to do so, Laura pounced and pulled her into another hug. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asked into Bree's hair. "You're not just saying that? Because when you got back, you said you were fine, too, and, well, you _really_ weren't."

"Yeah." Bree sighed heavily. "I'm as fine as I was before, anyway. Centuries of conditioning and control can't be washed away just from one shock, though you did manage to undo my recent 'booster shot' before it could settle in and firmly take hold. I know you were hoping that I'd be able to help you, now, but I still can't tell you what you want to know."

"I was hoping that you would be _you_ again," Laura corrected. She pulled back to look her roommate in the eyes. "I meant what I said, before. You're my friend, Bree. I did that for your sake, not for my investigation."

"...oh." Bree blinked, seemingly at a loss. "That's... not something I'm used to hearing."

"Then your 'family' doesn't deserve the name," Laura said firmly, though really, they'd both already known that. "Before, while you were all mind-whammied, you offered to take me to the missing girls," she said, deciding a change of subject - more or less - was in order. "Does that mean you found out while you were off with your 'mother', or...?"

"What I likely would have done was bring you to Mother, at which point she would have done whatever it is she does to the girls," Bree admitted. "That's the way we've always done it. Mother doesn't let any of us know _too_ much about the whole process. No one but her inner circle would know where the girls are taken, and those are her most loyal 'children'. Though even with them, she always has something over them, to ensure their cooperation even if her hold over them begins to weaken. Everything's a chess game to her, with no piece too valuable to be sacrificed if she deems it necessary." She sighed again, shaking her head. "In truth, I don't even know what she does to the girls to make them act the way they do."

"Oh, I do," Laura promptly told her. At Bree's confused blink, she explained, "We ran some tests on that goop we keep finding in the missing girls' rooms. As it turns out, it's cerebral spinal fluid, infested with some kind of parasites that screw with their brain chemistry. Those are what make their blood undrinkable." She paused, then admitted, "Though, we still don't know what brain parasites have to do with whatever that Hungry Light is."

"Huh." Bree was silent as she took that in. "You were busy while I was gone. Who have you told about this?"

"Everyone. I filmed and uploaded an update while you were gone, too. I mean, the BPRD actually shared some info with on the subject, from some of the tests they'd run on Sarah Jane, so they must have known I would."

"Hmm. Hadn't thought I was gone for that long."

"It was long enough, believe me," Laura said, impulsively giving her another hug. "I hope I didn't get you into more trouble with your so-called 'mother'."

"Not really. I think she was more amused than anything by you getting so attached to me despite knowing I could be made to turn on you at any time, and you ignoring my warning to run and staying in harm's way _because_ you thought I was in trouble was interesting to her. Promise me you won't let her use that against you. If I'm taken or made to leave again, don't just _stay_ here - get to safety."

"I... can't make that promise," Laura admitted. "I will do what I can to round up some help, though."

Bree sighed. "I suppose that's all I can ask."

"I _am_ really glad that you're back," Laura told her, giving her a squeeze. "Um. Father Jakob told me a little about what happened to your real family, and you winding up at the abbey. No details, though. You don't have to tell me anything else about that, if you don't want to. I figure you deserve at least a little privacy."

"Thank you for that," Bree said softly. "There's not much of a story to it, though. My father was a merchant. He often had to go on long trips, and usually brought my mother and I along with him. In 1860, while we were in Germany, near the Austrian border, my parents fell ill with tuberculosis and died. I had no surviving relatives back in France, so the nearby abbey took me in. I suppose my father's business collapsed, and our possessions would have been auctioned off pay off any debts, but I was only seven, and hardly cared. I grew up there, with the sisters, and I loved it. Until I was murdered. Don't... ask me about that, please."

"Okay," Laura replied, because what else could she say? "I hope you can go back, one day."

"Even if walking onto literally consecrated ground covered with blessed objects was in any way feasible, it seems unlikely I would be able to do so."

Father Jakob hadn't seemed to think it would be physically impossible for her to go there, but Laura kept that to herself. Bree clearly didn't like talking about the subject, so the kindest thing she could do would be to drop it until things changed enough that it wouldn't seem so far-fetched to her. "I'm an only child, too," she said instead. "I would have loved to have a sister, growing up. I honestly can't imagine anyone not wanting you in their family, no matter how twisted it was."

"There are likely a lot of things that are true that you wouldn't be able to imagine." Still, Bree sounded touched.

"Maybe," she agreed. "But that's probably true of everyone." She rested her chin on Bree's shoulder, softly adding, "Seriously, though. If I was one of you, I'd be proud to call you my sister."

Bree froze. "Y-you shouldn't say things like that," she said, voice shaking.

"Hey, you don't lie to me. Seems only fair I don't lie to you, either."

"It's already going to hurt when you're..."

"Gone?" Laura finished for her when Bree trailed off. "I know. You're so afraid of this 'mother' of yours that you can't imagine any scenario where she doesn't win."

"Everything's a chess game to her, and she's _**very**_ good at it."

"Maybe so. And maybe I won't survive this." Which wasn't to say that she was going to simply lay down and die, just that she wasn't so naive as to think good would automatically triumph over evil, or that there wouldn't be sacrifices along the way. "But if I don't, I promise that I won't blame you. I chose to stay, remember?"

"Even if you left, they'd just choose someone else."

"And we both know I couldn't live with myself if I decided to save my own life at the expense of someone else's." She hadn't missed Bree using the word 'they', but wisely didn't draw attention to it. Still, knowing that Bree subconsciously didn't include herself among the hostile vampires even while under mind control reassured Laura that she _could_ trust her. "So don't you dare blame yourself for what happens to me, okay? A lot of what happens in the future may be out of my control, but _that_ isn't. Please don't try and take that away from me."

"I'll... try." That clearly wasn't something Bree could promise, which Laura understood. She doubted she would have been able to in her place, either. But she knew Bree would do her best to abide by Laura's wishes, which was enough for her.

She let go of Bree and pulled back, smiling. "Well. At least things are finally back to the Silas version of normal," she commented. "I may even manage to get a full night's sleep tonight." Betty, Elsie, and now Natalie were all still missing, and Sarah Jane was a parasite-infected party girl, but at least Bree was safe and sound (as much as she was before, anyway), and Laura knew she'd be safe with her in the room. It was a comparatively small silver lining, but it was something, and she'd take it. _Wait..._ She frowned pensively as a sudden thought hit her. "What you said before you left, about Sarah Jane..."

"Yes?"

"Well, 'help Sarah Jane get free'? What did you mean by that?"

"Once they're infected with the sickness - or parasites, as it turns out - they eventually come to us. Betty wasn't taken, Laura, she left on her own. To get to the 'party'. Natalie almost certainly did the same. Thanks to Kirsch, Sarah Jane couldn't, and when Will tried to 'help' her..."

"Oh." That _did_ explain quite a few things. "But someone still left those cards?"

"If they just disappeared, there would be questions. Investigations. More than what one freshman journalism student could manage on her own, I mean. It's unfortunate that you didn't record anyone coming or going, despite your camera being on the night Betty vanished."

"Tell me about it." She still had no idea why that hadn't happened. Her computer going into sleep mode shouldn't have affected her camera at all, and even if it had been too dark to pick up any real details, the door opening _would_ have been noticeable, and the light from the hall would have, well, illuminated the situation somewhat, for lack of a better term. "Who knows? Maybe it _wasn't_ on all night, and I just turned it on before I'd fully woken up, then forgot about it. I suppose it doesn't really matter. However useful it would have been, I don't have footage of that." She paused. "Are you supposed to be able to talk to me about all this?"

Bree opened her mouth to reply, paused, then closed it again, tilting her head as she thought. "I'm... not sure. I _probably_ shouldn't be able to, but you're not supposed to know about the parasites, either. I suppose it's possible that the fact that you do made my programming think you're _allowed_ to know all of that, too." She held up a hand. "Not everything, and not anything that would be useful to you in your investigation," she said, preempting Laura's next question. "I can't even tell you who any of the others are."

"Yeah..." Laura sighed. "I didn't think it'd be that easy."


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Well, I suppose this is what I get for getting kinda cocky with my last update. Work this past week has been... difficult, my schedule's been in flux, and my landlord decided to do some work on my bathroom, informing me of this on the day he started. Still, I feel bad about being late with this, and I'll try to make it up to you all later.

* * *

"I'm sorry, she did... what, exactly?"

Carmilla honestly didn't think she'd heard that right. She was, after all, _quite_ familiar with her Mother rewriting the personalities of those she sired, and knowing that she'd just done so (again) to Bree had put her 'sister' firmly in the enemy category. She'd felt bad about not being able to save yet another person from Mother, yes, but in an odd way, it had also been something of a relief: she'd finally known exactly what to classify Bree as. Even Laura would have to agree, which would eliminate any potential problems there.

Only, according to Agent Leach, Laura hadn't done any such thing. Instead, she'd...

"She used holy water and a blessed crucifix to shock Bree loose from her latest round of reprogramming," he said, proving she _hadn't_ been hearing things. "Apparently, there's a window before that settles in firmly, and Miss Hollis managed to jolt her out of it before that could happen."

On the one hand, that did make a sort of sense. It took time for short term memory to turn into long term memory, for example. She could understand reprogramming instructions needing time to sink in all the way, becoming more permanent. On the other hand, this just seemed way too easy. If that was all it took, Mother must have known about the window. She'd had centuries to find out, after all, and she tended to keep a close eye on her 'children', especially the ones she'd just reprogrammed. (Though she tended to bury the memories of her doing so, which was why Carmilla hadn't remembered her doing any such thing until well after she'd gotten out of the coffin.) Naturally, she would be able to notice the point when those instructions weren't quite so flimsy, like concrete drying. Why risk sending Bree back before that had happened? To keep the BPRD from taking Laura into protective custody, like they had with Sarah Jane?

That was possible, Carmilla had to admit. Bree's protective nature and desire to keep Laura safe (physically, anyway; she wasn't able to do anything to keep Laura from potentially being infected with the parasites, and they all knew it) was probably one of the main things stopping them from just bodily removing Laura from Silas, whether she wanted to go or not.

Though, unless they held her under constant armed guard - or kept her constantly sedated - odds were good that Laura wouldn't _stay_ in their care for long. She was far too headstrong and driven to just sit around while others were in danger.

(Carmilla had politely pretended that she hadn't heard Liz's comment the other day that, in a few years, they might want to offer Miss Hollis a job. If she had to put up with Laura's cheerful, upbeat, dorky nature full-time, _someone_ would end up dying. She just wasn't sure whom, yet.)

Watching the recorded footage of it just made things worse. "That was either the bravest or the _stupidest_ thing I've ever seen anyone do," she commented, shaking her head in dismay. "I honestly can't tell which." There might not have been much else Laura could do there by herself, and (though she hadn't known it) time _had_ been a factor, but still...

This video would likely end up being Exhibits A, B, _and_ C in her argument against ever offering Laura Hollis _any_ kind of job with the BPRD.

"Maybe it was both?" Leach hesitantly suggested. Carmilla snorted in amusement, but didn't disagree.

It was sweet - and unsurprising, really - that Laura had been so worried about Bree, but that her concern distracted her so much that it took well over an hour _and_ prompting from J.P. to think of the obvious fact that Bree needed blood wasn't promising. It _was_ surprising that her first thought was to offer up her own, rather than (as J.P. suggested) the bottled blood in the fridge. Their conversation after Bree finally woke up managed to fully capture Carmilla's attention. Laura Hollis was clearly someone that felt emotions deeply, even something as comparatively simple as friendship. (Little wonder her much deeper feelings for Lawrence had been leaving her so badly confused.) Bree obviously wasn't about to repeat Carmilla's mistake of falling in love with her target, but it was clear that she was hardly unaffected by Laura's words. (That Laura, when warned that Bree's Mother might try to use those feelings against her, couldn't promise that she'd get to safety made Carmilla's stomach clench. She was too focused on the surveillance footage to spare any thought to wondering about that.) Laura's own request...

That was something Carmilla entirely understood. So much of her life hadn't exactly been under her own control, she clung fiercely to whatever was. Maybe Laura wasn't quite as naive as she'd thought, to be able to understand that. (Which wasn't to say she wasn't naive at all. That wasn't likely to last long at Silas, though, from what Carmilla had seen.) This was going to make it harder to force her to leave, if it came to that.

Bree not knowing about the parasites wasn't unexpected (Laura had already posted her video, clearly having needed something to do to _try_ and keep from worrying while Bree was gone), though her revelation that the infected left of their own volition was. That news certainly put Sarah Jane's mumbled comments into a new perspective. Team One, with help from BPRD HQ, was trying to engineer a way to try and follow the link from the parasites back to whatever it was that had spawned them. (Using the girl as a homing pigeon was out, naturally. Carmilla knew things would have to be a lot more desperate before she'd be able to talk anyone into trying that approach.) Also interesting was Laura's knowledge of said parasites letting Bree tell her a little more than she should have been able to. It made Carmilla wonder if there might be any other potential loopholes they could exploit. She'd have to talk to Kate about that later.

(Laura not having recorded Betty being taken - or leaving on her own, as it turned out - and someone else leaving the card she'd found was something the BPRD had already noticed, and Laura not saying anything about having hours of useless footage recorded but _not_ when Betty left suggested that she was right in guessing she simply hadn't noticed that she'd turned her camera back on that morning.)

Carmilla came to the reluctant conclusion that she was going to have to meet up with Laura again. It was risky, given how much attention she seemed to attract, but the fact that she was learning potentially important information that she wasn't sharing with the BPRD was worrying; also, Carmilla knew she really had to work out some way of getting a look at that Sumerian book. (Yes, according to Bree, it didn't say anything even potentially helpful, but something like _that_ the agency still needed to see. Besides, there was also the matter of those pages written in a language Bree hadn't even recognized, let alone been able to read. They _especially_ needed to see those.) Aside from her initial 'accidental' encounter with Laura in the grocery store, they'd only met in person once, and Laura had fortunately been so distracted by her relationship issues that she hadn't really asked for any details about what 'Carmen' was getting up to in-between their online conversations. (Carmilla was being deliberately vague on Twitter.) She supposed she could claim to have been sightseeing, and hadn't been able to get any reception off in the countryside. That might be enough to let her bluff her way through at least one more face-to-face conversation, and Laura would likely be happy to know that 'Carmen' had been spending so much time out of harm's way.

She'd have to restrain the flirting a little, though, since Laura _had_ managed to get things sorted out with Danny, and might not appreciate it. Only a little, though. She'd already made it clear she was attracted to Laura (and there had been more truth to that than she really wanted to admit, even to herself), so displaying no interest at all would be suspicious. Besides, Laura was _way_ too cute not to flirt with even a _tiny_ bit.

Again, the realization that she might have a problem developing didn't quite manage to stick around.

* * *

While Laura had obviously needed to let people know Bree was back safe and sound, so that they wouldn't be surprised - and suspicious - should they see her walking around campus with no explanation given, Bree, rather understandably, hadn't wanted her to give anyone the specifics of her return. She hadn't even wanted to let the BPRD know. "Mother isn't nearly as upset about their presence as she _should_ be," she'd commented, clearly not happy about that. Given that they were really the missing girls' only chance, Laura knew how she felt. Though, not knowing anything about how overconfident Bree's unnamed Mother might be after getting away with the whole sacrifice thing for centuries, she didn't have any real reason to be overly suspicious, either. Even Bree had admitted that was a distinct possibility.

In the end, Laura had tweeted that Bree was back, and been as vague as possible with the details. (The character limit made for a great excuse for that, at times.) She told everyone that Bree hadn't really said what her 'mother' had done to her - which was true - but she was okay now - which was also true. Naturally, Danny hadn't been so easily placated, stopping by first thing the next morning. (She probably would have been there sooner, had she checked Twitter before bed last night.) Bree again hadn't provided an explanation as to exactly what her 'mother' had done, and quietly chided Danny for asking her questions the other girl _knew_ she wouldn't be able to answer. Still, seeing that - unspecified mental trauma notwithstanding - Bree was as normal as she'd been before did seem to calm Danny down. Mostly.

Sort of.

Well, she hadn't gone for a stake, anyway.

Laura didn't like that she had to conceal potentially helpful information from her viewers, the BPRD, _and_ Danny and LaF. Admittedly, knowing that the parasites evidently had a second stage didn't really help them much, since the only infected girl who wasn't missing was securely in BPRD protective custody, so she didn't feel _too_ bad about it. If Bree had told her anything that might help in figuring out what was going on, that would be something else. But she didn't want to take _any_ chance that her 'mother' might figure out that something was amiss, and Laura couldn't exactly argue. She reminded herself that every journalist learned things they didn't - or couldn't - publish over the course of their careers. She was just getting a headstart on that, was all.

"Hey, about that Sumerian book..." Laura remarked as she walked down one of the paths on campus with Bree. Since it was Saturday, they didn't have any classes, and Laura hadn't wanted to stay cooped up in her room after her bedside vigil for Bree. It had gotten cool enough to require an actual jacket, though not too heavy of one, yet.

It being Saturday also meant that Danny was busy with the Summer Society. Given that there were no other colleges nearby, Laura wasn't sure exactly who the sports teams played against most of the time, exactly, aside from splitting up into smaller teams to play against themselves. (She was pretty sure they called those scrimmages.) From what Danny said, they _did_ travel to other schools for games, and other teams _did_ come to Silas (though, oddly enough, none of them ever really wanted to stay longer than they had to). It being as comparatively early in the year as it was meant that the sports seasons were only just starting, so Danny was currently at an association football practice session. As much as Laura would have loved to watch Danny running around the field, the Summers' practices were closed to outsiders. (It was, sadly, too late to even try applying to join up until at least the Spring.) Danny was actually on the basketball team, too, which was evidently a common enough practice that the school took care to stagger the game schedule for both teams to prevent any overlap. (Not that anyone needed to convince _her_ that Danny was athletic. She'd inspected Danny's body up close and personal, after all - she _knew_ that when Danny said that she worked out, she _meant_ it.)

Whatever she might or might not have thought about them personally, Danny had to admit it was a good thing that the BPRD had shown up to take over the investigation into the missing girls, as otherwise, she would have started getting in trouble with the Society for blowing off her commitments to them in order to help Laura. Really, the fact that she was trying to find one of their own was probably the only reason no one had said anything about it already.

Of course, that she couldn't be there to keep an eye on Laura herself didn't mean she felt comfortable with the idea of Laura walking around without any protection. Laura, in turn, hadn't wanted to let Bree out of her sight quite yet, so she hadn't objected to Danny's attitude. In exchange, Danny hadn't said a word about her selecting Bree as her escort.

Bree herself had mostly been vaguely amused by the whole thing.

"What about it?" Bree asked. She wasn't wearing a jacket, seemingly immune to the temperature in her customary jeans and a T-shirt. Thanks to Laura's videos, most of the campus knew she was a vampire, so she didn't really bother putting on an act, anymore. "I'm still not allowed to help you, you know."

"I know." They'd already established that last night. "But I have looked through it myself, remember? I may not be able to read any of it, but I know there were a lot more than seven pages before the text changed languages, and unless those myths you mentioned were incredibly detailed, you were skipping pages back there, too."

"Honestly, Laura, if you value the ability to sleep at night, you don't really want to know what any of those pages say. None of them have to do with the Light, so..."

"The weapons might potentially be helpful," Laura countered, not touching the rest of what Bree had said.

"In which case, I wouldn't be able to tell you about any of them."

"Could you look through the listing and point out the ones you were pretty sure _wouldn't_ help us at all?" Laura asked after a long pause.

"Somehow, I don't think Mother would miss a loophole like that."

"Nothing to lose by trying, though, right?"

Bree shrugged. "Eh, I guess. It's not going anywhere, though."

"I know. But I really _do_ want to know what that book says, even if you're not allowed to give me specifics... and honestly, after everything he's been through, I think J.P. kinda deserves to know, too."

Fortunately for Bree, she was spared from having to come up with an answer by Laura's phone buzzing and vibrating, indicating she had a new text message.

She fished her phone out of her pocket, flipped it open, and blinked in surprise at what she saw. "It's from Carmen," she said, not quite sure what to feel. The other girl had helped her sort things out with Danny, which Laura definitely appreciated, and kind of owed her for. On the other hand, now that things _were_ official with Danny, Carmen's flirtations made her kind of uncomfortable. "She's asking if I'm busy."

Bree gently tugged Laura to a stop. They'd wandered into Copernicus Park by this point, so there wasn't really anyone around to wonder what they were talking about. "About this Carmen person..."

"What about her?"

"Well, you were a little too distracted by things with Danny to discuss the matter in any kind of detail before, but what do you know about this girl?"

"Same as you, I suppose," Laura admitted with a shrug. She paused, then sheepishly added, "I, ah, didn't exactly let her get much of a word in, last time. She's nice enough on Twitter, doesn't try to engage me in any kind of private conversations..." She texted Carmen back, saying that she was just out enjoying the day.

"I still don't like the thought of you going off to meet with someone who's essentially a complete stranger."

"You don't have any sisters named Carmen, though, right?" Laura asked, only remembering too late that Bree had plainly stated that she couldn't tell Laura who any of the others were.

Fortunately, that was a non-issue. "No. Not that we're sure that's even her real name."

"Hey, I wasn't sure if she was an actual person, at first, but that turned out to be the truth." Her phone buzzed again. As she'd kind of expected, Carmen was suggesting that they could meet up. To her credit, she didn't say anything about not inviting Danny, or anyone else, for that matter. "I could go for some hot chocolate," she mused.

"When are you _not_ in the mood for chocolate?"

"True." To stall for time, Laura texted Carmen back, asking when and where she was thinking of. "Besides, why would someone with hostile intentions take the time to help me sort out my love life, especially when it didn't gain her anything?"

"Yes, she did do that," Bree agreed. "And the next day, I caught traces of a scent in our room I didn't recognize. Unless you invited someone over and just never mentioned it, _someone_ was there who absolutely shouldn't have been."

Laura started. "What? Why would...?"

"Any number of reasons. Since nothing was missing that I know of, it likely wasn't to steal anything. At the time, I'd thought it might have been someone from the BPRD, investigating me. That this Carmen is showing up again immediately after recent events... She might want to check on you, pump you for information, or ask you about my _actual_ condition. I just don't know which side she might be working for."

Laura, unaccountably, felt vaguely betrayed at the thought. Not that she'd really been all that attached to Carmen - occasional flirtations were fun and all, but that _was_ all they'd been - but the idea that someone had been lying to her, just to weasel her way into Laura's life for potentially nefarious purposes... It hurt. "She wasn't who you were talking about before you left to go see your Mom, though, is she?"

"I wasn't really referring to any _one_ person. But someone trying to get you alone, like this Carmen is..."

"Technically, she hasn't said I have to come alone," Laura pointed out. "You could come meet her, give her the once over." Another text came in. Carmen wanted to meet her at the same cafe as last time - it must have made an impression - whenever she was free. "And don't worry, I'm still wearing one of your crosses, and I've got some holy water in my pocket." She might have been trusting, but she wasn't stupid.

"I'll catch up with you. If she has anyone nearby watching the area, I don't want them seeing me coming."

"Okay." Laura felt a bit uneasy about the whole thing, but she still texted Carmen back that she was on her way. "Hopefully, we're both just being paranoid, and she really is who she says she is."

"Yeah, wouldn't that be nice?" Bree muttered to herself as she watched Laura walk off. She considered her options for another moment, then pulled out her own phone. "Hello, Perry," she began once the Floor Don answered. "I presume you've detoxed, by now? Good. I need to ask you for a favor, if you don't mind. I believe I have need of your cleaning skills in my dorm room..."

* * *

Carmilla got to the cafe first, this time. She supposed that was fair, and she _had_ been closer than she'd been the other day. The cafe wasn't overly crowded, so she was able to secure the same corner table they'd sat at before. (She didn't know if not letting someone be able to sneak up behind her had been one of Laura's concerns that day, but it was one of hers.)

She'd been able to dress more to her own tastes today, so she almost regretted not waiting until Laura was already there to show up: Laura's reaction to her leather pants and matching jacket might just have been worth not getting her choice of seating. Ah, well. Work before play, she reminded herself.

On the plus side, she got to enjoy Laura's entrance when she arrived, wearing a navy blue wool overcoat that she promptly began unbuttoning when she walked into the warmer cafe. She really _was_ adorable... and this time, she managed to realize she had an actual problem on her hands, as she knew that was _not_ the appropriate attitude for the situation, but kept shamelessly staring at Laura anyway.

The guys would _not_ let her live it down if they found out she was nursing a crush on the creampuff. She'd just have to keep it to herself, then, she decided. No problem, right?

Laura scanned the cafe, and a small smile flashed across her face when she spotted Carmilla, making the vampire's heartbeat pick up a bit. _Oh, I am so screwed..._

Laura wasn't smiling when she sat down, though. Her attitude was pleasant enough, but restrained. Understandable, given her recent relationship upgrade. A blonde waitress, whom Carmilla had politely informed earlier that she was waiting for someone, drifted over to their table before she could even greet Laura. "I take it you'll be having your usual?" she asked warmly enough to indicate the two were at least casual acquaintances, if not friends.

That elicited another smile from Laura. "You know me too well, Ingrid."

"Not really." There was the barest hint of wistfulness in her voice, suggesting she might have liked to change that, but Laura didn't seem to notice. It made Carmilla wonder how many other people might have some kind of crush on the girl that she was either completely oblivious to, or was pretending to be in order to spare their feelings. She could probably start a harem, if she'd been so inclined. "And you?" Ingrid asked Carmilla, who shoved her idle thoughts aside to focus on matters at hand.

After giving her own order - a Viennese hot chocolate and _Apfelstrudel_ \- She settled back in her chair to study Laura. "You're looking significantly calmer than the last time I saw you." Which was true whether she'd meant in person or in the surveillance footage. "I take it things are going well with Big Red?"

That pulled another seemingly reflexive smile from Laura. "They are, yes. I wanted to thank you for your help with that, too. I know you didn't come halfway around the world to play matchmaker for a college student."

Carmilla shrugged. "It wasn't like it cost me anything, and the hot chocolate here is more than worth it."

"Can't argue with that, I suppose."

"Given that you're evidently here enough to have a usual, Cupcake, I didn't think you would."

"The food's good, the prices aren't too high, and it's relatively close to campus," Laura said simply. "A lot of us come here, if we're not in the mood for cafeteria food... which sometimes, I don't think is even _actual_ food."

She made a mental note to ask Hellboy to swing through the Silas kitchens. "I guess I don't come here enough, then. I still have yet to meet any of your friends." She forcibly restrained herself from making a remark about being perfectly fine having Laura all to herself.

"I guess not." It was Laura's turn to study her, though Carmilla wasn't sure what she was looking for. "So, you know who I am, where I go to school, who my friends are... but I don't know much of anything about you."

She'd kind of been expecting Laura to start asking questions about that sort of thing. "Probably because I don't go to college, or have that many close friends, and just listing what to you would simply be random people back in the States wouldn't really mean anything. I like nature, I like to travel, and honestly, I'd be happier reading a good philosophy book than I would be going to some 'party' full of sweaty, drunken idiots throwing themselves around 'dancing' to some kind of godawful noise they're under the mistaken impression is any kind of music." All of which was entirely true.

"After going to a couple parties at Silas, I get that. Not really a philosophy fan myself, though. But maybe someday you can have a conversation with Bree on the subject."

Carmilla actually _had_ considered what that might be like, and wouldn't necessarily have been against it... provided Bree wasn't still stuck on the wrong side in the upcoming confrontation. "Maybe. Though, on the subject of your roommate... You were awfully vague on Twitter. You sure she's... entirely herself."

"As much as she can be." And really, Laura couldn't have even known just how accurate those words were. "There's just one thing," she added, unobtrusively reaching into her coat pocket with her right hand while placing her left on the table. "Remember this?" she asked, discreetly displaying the Charm of Maugris.

Finally being given an actual excuse to examine the bracelet, Carmilla wasted no time in doing so. It was slightly warm to the touch, she noticed, even more so than being pressed against Laura's skin would explain. "Yeah. What about it?"

"Nothing. I just needed you closer." Before Carmilla could do more than blink in confusion, Laura raised a tiny spray bottle, brought it closer, and spritzed her hand with water.

Water that felt like _acid_.

She jerked away, cursing herself for having lowered her guard so much that _Laura Hollis_ had gotten the drop on her. She'd even _known_ the girl had holy water, and had _seen_ the 3 oz spray bottle she'd filled up before Bree had returned. Everything that followed had simply pushed it from her mind. She immediately grabbed a napkin and began wiping the water from her skin. There was a patch of red, raw skin on the back of her hand, but she thought she deserved that for being so foolish. "Laura-"

"You're one of _them_ ," Laura accused, expression turning cold. "I take it _you're_ the one who's supposed to be bringing me to your so-called mother?"

" _NO._ " Even Laura twitched slightly at the vehemence in that word. Carmilla paused, then admitted, "I haven't done anything like _that_ since the 1870s." She sighed. "Unfortunately, that means my knowledge of what she's doing with the girls is both incomplete and out of date."

Laura stared at her for a long moment, still looking like she was one wrong move away from just bolting out of the cafe. "It's you, isn't it? You're the reason the BPRD picked up on what's going on at Silas from my videos."

Carmilla hesitated, then sighed. "Yes. Which you cannot tell anyone. I do _not_ want her knowing I'm here. Or anywhere." Between the holy water burn and trying to figure out what to say to Laura, she didn't notice anyone walking up to the table until their drinks and food were set down on it. "Thanks," she said absently, still trying to work out how to calm Laura down enough so that she'd actually _listen_ to what Carmilla said.

"Oh, don't mention it," someone who was definitely _not_ Ingrid replied. She looked up to find Bree staring down at her. "Well, well," the blonde vampire continued, speaking softly. "The prodigal sister returns."

Well, Carmilla told herself, at least the conversation couldn't get any worse.

Right?


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** And so begins season 3 of Carmilla. After all the build up and all the hype, what can I do that will keep my readers' attention on this story, as well?

We'll start with this.

 

* * *

 

There was a long moment of silence. Laura couldn't speak for Bree or Carmen (or _whatever_ her name actually was), but she honestly had no idea what to say. Carmen-whoever had lied about who she was, but if Bree's attitude toward their 'mother' was anything to judge by, she had a very good reason to do so. (Unless, unlike Bree, she was entirely loyal, in which case she didn't.) She'd helped Laura sort out her love life, but she'd evidently had ulterior motives for doing so, or at least making sure her dorm room was empty. She was a vampire, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. She'd admitted to past involvement with the kidnappings, but so had Bree. She'd invented an entire fake persona, lied to Laura about her intentions and motivations, and invited her out for hot chocolate because... Because why? Why hadn't the BPRD scoured Styria until they found and destroyed the vampiric conspiracy ages ago, if they'd known about it all this time? And Bree recognized her, even identifying her as one of her 'sisters', which-

_Wait..._

She shouldn't have been able to do that. Bree had told her - more than once - that she couldn't tell Laura who any of the others were. Was it because she'd been talking to _Carmen_ when she'd said it? "You know her?" she asked Bree cautiously, afraid her roommate would choke on her answer, as she had before.

That had clearly occurred to Bree, as well, since she continued glaring at 'Carmen', directing her reply there, instead. "Countess Mircalla Karnstein. You're looking surprisingly well, for a dead woman."

"Mircalla _is_ dead," 'Carmen' said softly after a long pause. "I haven't gone by that name in over one hundred and forty-two years."

"So, what _should_ we call you, then?" Laura interjected.

The question seemed to vaguely amuse her, for some reason, her eyes distant for a brief moment. "Carmilla. Call me Carmilla."

Bree gave an annoyed huff. "Really? I'd hoped the whole 'Carmen' thing had meant you'd gotten over your obsession with anagrams, _Carmilla_." Whether because of her French heritage or having spent most - if not all - of her life in Europe, Bree was pronouncing the name 'Car-mee-luh', rather than the flat, Americanized 'Car-mill-uh' that the girl in question had used.

Carmen/Carmilla/Mircalla/whoever allowed herself a brief, wistful smile. "I don't think anyone but Trevor has called me that since 1944. No one in the Army could ever quite manage it, so I gave up correcting them fairly early on." She sighed, smile collapsing, and added, "Besides, the last person to call me that was... Well, she was the reason I wound up in that coffin for seventy-two years." She shrugged. "So I just go with Carmilla, now."

Laura blinked, confused. "Um... coffin?" She also presumed that 'Trevor' referred to Professor Trevor Bruttenholm, and if the two were on a first name basis, that implied she'd been with the BPRD for far longer than Laura had initially thought.

Carmilla - and even though Laura had grown up primarily speaking English, saying the name with the flat accent still sounded odd to her - stared at her for several seconds, then pointedly glanced around the rest of the cafe, then looked back at her, saying nothing.

Laura felt a flare of annoyance. " _You're_ the one who wanted to meet here."

"Yes, I did," Carmilla agreed. "But _that_ is not a conversation I'm having here. So, for the time being, let's just say that Mother doesn't _like it_ when you disobey her."

"Why not just break out the mind control or whatever, then?"

Carmilla smiled bleakly. "I think she wanted to teach me a lesson. Not that she ever explained, mind you. She never did, but she was even _less_ inclined to do so after I refused to... After I tried to run away with one of the girls."

"And then you escaped," Bree broke in, glaring. There was anger in her voice, quiet and simmering, but also old and entrenched. Laura could instinctively tell it was due to something besides being left in the dark about some things, or her 'sister' getting out of her punishment prematurely. "Nevermind the _rest_ of us, who weren't so lucky. Nevermind the girl who was ripped away from everything she knew and loved and turned into an unholy abomination because _you_ were selfish."

"I wasn't in any shape to do _anything_ to help any of you then," Carmilla replied, wincing. "Hell, it was a while before I managed to shake the fear that, any moment, Mother would turn up and drag me back for some punishment even worse than the coffin had been."

"I trust you'll forgive me if I'm skeptical of anything _you_ tell me, Countess Karnstein," Bree shot back, placing a mocking emphasis on the title. "I've heard _a lot_ about you over the years."

"Pretty sure it's _Agent_ Karnstein, these days," Laura corrected quietly.

Bree froze momentarily, then let out a barely audible laugh, entirely devoid of humor. "Oh, of course. _Of course._ Organizations that study the occult and supposedly 'fight the forces of darkness' come and go all the time, but even as your Bureau grew and flourished, Mother never seemed concerned by it. I could never understand that before, but having you infiltrate the organization from the beginning... Little wonder they never even tried doing anything about the sacrifices until Laura made so much noise about it they _couldn't_ get away with ignoring it again."

Carmilla looked faintly stung, then not so faintly angry. "I have not been doing any such thing," she said icily. "You know how well Mother covers her tracks. We didn't know where to look."

"Really?" The look Bree shot her was full of what could charitably have been called extreme skepticism.

"Yes, really. You can be as disbelieving as you want, but it won't change anything."

She shook her head, disgusted. "Mattie wasn't kidding; you never _did_ pay attention when Mother talked business, did you?"

"Doing so doesn't seem to have done her any good."

Bree studied her for a long moment, then her expression shifted to one of exasperation. "Oh, you didn't- You _did_ , didn't you? You went to see Mattie. She _knows_ you're here." Her eyes narrowed. "Which is _not_ something she'd risk hiding from Mother, considering her current tenuous position. That just proves that both you and your agency are her puppets."

Carmilla stood up as well. "Careful," she warned softly, voice hard and cold.

"Why?" Bree countered, undeterred. "I've already killed one of my so-called 'siblings'."

"I wouldn't go down _nearly_ as easily as Will, and you know it."

"I'm fairly confident I have more backup nearby than you do."

It was like the whole Danny-Kirsch squabble all over again, if only because the two of them were ignoring the bigger picture, and seemed to have lost track of their surroundings. Only this, Laura could tell, was much more serious, and would likely end up being far more deadly. "For the sake of my own peace of mind, I'm going to pretend you were talking about me," she said into the tense silence. She didn't want to think that Ingrid or any of the others she knew in her non-Silas life might be vampires that could be ordered at any moment to abduct and/or kill her. That might trigger a paranoia-gasm and drive her loopy _real_ fast. "Now, why don't we all just sit down and talk about this calmly, and not attract everyone's attention." Though, if there _were_ other vampires present, they'd hear everything that was said, no matter what. Hopefully, that meant any potential reinforcements for Bree weren't actually _inside_ the cafe.

Unless she _had_ meant Laura, which... Well, her efforts might provide just enough of a _distraction_ to make a difference, she supposed.

Carmilla started ever-so-slightly at her words, as if just realizing how close she'd come to blowing her cover (Laura hadn't made up her mind just yet on whether she believed Carmilla and the BPRD were the good guys or not), and eased back from her combat-ready posture. Bree didn't back down, but she did risk shooting Laura a disbelieving look. "You are _not_ seriously pleading for her life."

"No, I'm not," Laura agreed. "I'm pleading for _yours_." At Bree's startled expression, she continued, "Look, we all know I'm almost totally in the dark about most of what the two of you have been talking about, but the way I see it, one of two things is true: Either she's telling the truth, in which case she and the BPRD may be the girls' only hope for survival - and _your_ only hope to be free - or she's lying, which would mean you'd risk killing one of your Mother's more loyal children, and one she'd gone to great lengths to have infiltrate the BPRD. You got away with killing Will because he was a screwup who'd almost gotten Sarah Jane killed, but this...? Would she _ever_ forgive you for that?" Bree didn't say anything, but the open horror that flashed through her eyes made it clear what the answer would be... and hinted that she had some ideas as to what her Mother might have done to her. She still didn't look at all happy, but she slid into one of the empty chairs without complaint.

Carmilla looked somewhat impressed despite herself. "That puppy dog who follows you around was right: you _are_ smart," she commented as she retook her own seat.

"Thanks," Laura said flatly. She shook her head. "And now that we've gotten _that_ settled..."

"You can't tell anyone about this," Carmilla told her urgently. She shifted her gaze to include Bree and added, " _Either_ of you."

"I'm not terribly inclined to keep secrets for _you_ , Betrayer," Bree snapped. "Especially not from Mother, and _especially_ not when I'm already under such close scrutiny."

"Then do it for Mattie," Carmilla suggested.

"The one who resents me most for not being you?"

"She's not going to be doing that anymore." She paused, then added, "You also might want to think about what could happen to the girls - or Laura - if Mother finds out I'm with the BPRD, and decides that might make them enough of a threat that she has to take action."

Bree was not being won over by her arguments. "Unless she already does know, which would go a long way toward explaining why she hasn't been as upset as she should have been about your friends crawling all over her university."

Laura started. "'Her univ-' Wait... The Dean? Your Mother... is _the Dean_? That... really shouldn't surprise me at all, should it? Aside from all the obvious clues, even after you admitted that you're a vampire, you were still afraid of her," she said to Bree. "How did I not _see_ it?"

"If you reveal that you're in any way onto her in your videos, she _will_ come for you," Carmilla warned.

Laura buried a shiver. "That may be the first thing you've said that I have no problem believing."

"I've never lied to you, Laura."

Laura gaped at her incredulously. "Oh, really, _Carmen_?"

"I never told _you_ that was my name," Carmilla replied steadily. "You may not have known who she was at the time, but you _have_ met Mother. I think you can see why I wouldn't have wanted her knowing I was here. Everything I said to _you_ was the truth." She shrugged. "I didn't have any particular inclination to lie to you, and I have far too much to deal with to worry about keeping my lies straight."

That did make a kind of sense, she had to admit. Warped, twisted sense, yes, but it was there. "You didn't tell me the truth, though. In fact, you deliberately mislead me, lying to my face or not."

"It was for your own good, Cupcake."

"You have justifications or rationalizations for everything you do, don't you?" Bree accused.

"Or maybe somebody on the outside can't understand enough of what's going on to know I'm right?" Carmilla sighed, shaking her head. "Look. I hadn't been planning on trying to figure out some way to get you away from Mother's watchful eye for long enough to talk, but since you're here, why don't you just tell me everything you know, so that we can work on putting and end to this, once and for all?"

"Because you can't be trusted."

"Oh, please." She gestured at Laura, saying, "If we continue following the Cupcake's logic, you'd either be doing the right thing and helping save the missing girls, or you wouldn't be telling me anything I didn't already know, and thus couldn't get in trouble for."

"Unless, of course, you decided to look out for your best interests again. Even Mattie's never been able to pretend that _you_ weren't always your primary concern. You could betray me, spin things so that Mother thought I'd slipped out from under her control again, and convince anyone you hadn't already corrupted in your agency that she'd gotten to me more deeply than they'd known, and I had to be dealt with."

Carmilla kept her frustration in check as best she could. "You've barely even _met_ any of them; don't start thinking you can make judgements as to how they would or wouldn't behave."

"Considering what they've let you get away with, why shouldn't I?" Bree reached down below the table to grab something - and there had been something tucked into one of her pants pockets, Carmilla belatedly realized; she'd been (justifiably) paying more attention to Bree's presence and what it might mean to give much thought to what she might be carrying with her - and tossed a plastic sandwich bag onto the table near Carmilla's untouched _Apfelstrudel_. "I don't know if your phone is off or just set on silent, but I suspect you'll find a number of increasingly urgent messages the next time you check it."

Laura peered down at the bag. She didn't recognize any of the numerous tiny items contained within, but felt she could make a reasonable guess as to what they might be, and felt her stomach twist. "Where did...? How...?" She already knew the first one, of course. They all did. But she still wanted - _needed_ \- to hear it out loud.

"I asked young Miss Perry for a favor," Bree said, her gaze locked firmly on Carmilla. It wasn't really clear which of them she was talking to. Maybe that was necessary to continue the conversation at all? Laura really wished she had some kind of guidebook as to what this whole 'mental conditioning' thing did and didn't cover.

She couldn't help but be distracted from her growing feelings of nausea, though. "Perry?"

"You've never actually seen that girl clean anything, have you?" That was unmistakably directed at her. "She's very good at it." Bree's attention shifted to Carmilla. "And _very_ thorough. I can't be quite certain that's all of them, though. I'll be giving the room a good inspection myself later, but until I do-" Back to Laura. "-you might want to find somewhere else to sleep, this weekend."

Good thing she had another option beyond simply going home for the weekend now, Laura decided. She had enough trouble keeping her father from finding out what was going on at Silas as it was. She'd never be able to manage that if they were both under the same roof. (A sudden thought broke through her anger and confusion, wondering if she really had any right to criticize Carmilla for misleading her and committing so many lies of omission when she was basically doing the same with her Dad. Yes, she did, she decided, since she knew _she_ wasn't actually working for the Dean, which she couldn't say about Carmilla. Also, it was something of a conditioned response by now to downplay the serious stuff as much as she could, given his smotheringly overprotective nature.) "Right." She shook her head. "You were _watching_ me? Do you _realize_ how creepy that is?"

"Believe it or not, Cupcake, it _was_ for your own good." Carmilla turned to Bree. "Tell me, what would have happened if whoever's _actually_ supposed to reel Laura in came for her? Or if Mother decided her little investigation needed to be shut down _immediately_? Would you have been able to do anything? Tell anyone what had happened? Ask for help?"

Bree's lips thinned, but she nonetheless honestly replied, "Obviously not."

"Exactly." She looked at Laura. "If you refused to get away from Silas, this way we could at least know if you were in trouble and respond in time to do something about it."

"And if I discovered anything that I didn't put in my videos and didn't tell you about, you'd know that, too?"

"We're fighting an antediluvian vampire cult, Laura. I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, but this is bigger than you. Or me. Or any one of us."

"...I think that may be the first time you've used my actual name." She paused. "Also, um..."

"Yes, she really is _at least_ that old." None of them had been speaking loudly at all, but Carmilla dropped her voice even further, until she was practically whispering. "And I can't even even count the number of times someone has tried to kill her, over the centuries. She doesn't even have the tiniest scar to show for any of those attempts. We haven't just killed her and sorted everything else out afterward because we honestly _have no idea how_. So unless Little Sis over there has some great revelation about some weakness that no one's ever discovered before, this is not going to be easy, it is not going to be fun, and most of all, it is not going to be _safe_. I may not _want_ to hurt your feelings, but if that's what it takes to finally put an end to all of this, I will. So for your own sake, you might want to seriously start thinking about getting out of this. This isn't a story where good always triumphs over evil, this is the real world. It's messy, and violent, and tears pieces of your soul out with every difficult decision you have to make - and if you're _very_ lucky, that will only be _metaphorically_." While a speechless Laura tried to process all that, she turned to Bree. "And as for you, there's only one thing I want to say to you."

The blonde arched an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"Thank you." Bree jerked slightly, eyes widening in surprise. "Mattie told me about what you were trying to do in 1944. Thank you for at least making the effort." Carmilla finally got around to taking a bite of her _Apfelstrudel_. (Laura knew from experience that it was delicious; watching Carmilla enjoy it also reminded her of her own untouched drink, which she promptly picked up and sipped from.)

For the first time in the conversation, Bree looked uncertain. Clearly, _that_ wasn't something she'd expected to hear. "...you're welcome." If nothing else, her manners wouldn't let her just ignore Carmilla's words.

Laura quickly guzzled her hot chocolate - she usually took her time, wanting to enjoy it, but she suddenly found herself with too many other things to do - and stood up. "Well, as fun as all of _this_ has been, I need to get going if I wanna catch Danny." Or pull her away from her practice for just long enough to ask if she could stay over. One of the two. She paused, then asked Bree, "What did you tell Perry when she started turning up all the bugs?"

"She knows better than to ask questions like that," Bree said distractedly.

What the heck did _that_ mean? Laura actually exchanged confused looks with Carmilla, before she turned to leave. Probably just that, as a Junior at Silas, Perry had been there long enough to know that there were some things she should just stay out of. (A lesson Laura freely admitted she'd likely _never_ learn, even if she survived to graduation.) Because, like she'd thought before, suspecting Perry of anything would just be silly.

_Be more careful about who you trust._

...right?


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Okay, I think it's time for things to start happening again, in this story.

Oh, and remember how I said I'd make it up to you for the late chapter(s)? Well, aside from kicking things up a notch in this story (which had already been planned), I'm also pleased to announce the very first Twitter account for one of my characters: Princess Laura, from _Summer Storm_. You can find her at **FaePrincess1**. Now, on with the show!

 

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Fortunately, Laura hadn't needed to wait long to be able to speak with Danny. She'd made it clear to the Summer she run into near the entrance to the gym that the Summers were practicing in - Jill, or something; she hadn't introduced herself, and Laura had only seen her around once or twice - that she needed to talk to Danny about something important, but not time critical. She didn't want to be one of _those_ girlfriends, after all. Besides, she wasn't sure if the rest of the Summer Society liked her (though they hopefully appreciated the effort she was putting into finding their missing sister), but as far as she knew, none of them _disliked_ her. She wanted to keep it that way.

Danny seemed more flustered than anything by the idea of her staying over, despite her having already spent the night. It was, Laura had stressed, only temporary. She really, _really_ liked Danny, but the idea of moving in with her... Well, she wasn't quite ready for that step, just yet. Given her relief, Danny apparently wasn't, either. That was fine, really. Laura would rather have them be on the same page with that sort of thing than not. It wasn't quite as hard as she'd feared to talk Danny into it. She'd even told her the truth... sort of.

"What kind of bugs are bad enough to require evacuation to deal with, but only infest one dorm room?" Danny asked, frowning.

"Silas bugs?" Laura offered with a shrug. She hadn't made up her mind about Carmilla, and didn't really want to lie to Danny about anything, but Carmilla and Bree and their Mother... It was all so confusing and convoluted, it seemed best to just keep Danny out of the whole thing for the time being. It would also let her stave off any overprotective instincts, and keep Danny from starting any (more) fights.

"Point."

"Honestly, I don't know that I do _have to_ be somewhere else, but if it makes it easier for Bree to take care of things, I don't mind." She slipped her arms around Danny's waist. "And it's not like I was gonna say no to an excuse to spend more time with you."

"You know I'm all sweaty and gross, right now," Danny pointed out, though she was hardly pushing Laura away.

"As soon as I get you alone, you're gonna be a whole lot sweatier," Laura promised.

That wouldn't be for a while, of course, as the Summers had only been taking a break from their practice when Danny had come out to talk to Laura. It would be some time, yet, before they were done. That was fine, really. Laura had a few things to take care of, in the meantime. One of which, obviously, would be to pack an overnight bag to bring to Danny's. She was going to do that, of course - she really had to - but not just yet. There was one other thing she'd decided to do first.

She'd stopped in her room just long enough to grab her 'cub reporter gear' (or so LaF had called it the first time they'd seen it) - a bag that had a pair of notebooks, several pens and pencils, a digital recorder, and a can of pepper spray (because the bags of bear spray her Dad got her were only for repelling bears, and wouldn't be as effective on people) - and headed back out the door, once again heading off campus, this time to go to an address she'd looked up the other day: the home of one Cornelius Hans Albrecht, Lügenbaron von Vordenberg.

She probably should have told someone where she was going, but she knew they would have just tried to talk her out of it, and she was done. Done being passive, done sitting back and letting an agency of a foreign government - an agency she potentially might not even be able to trust, as it turned out - do all her investigating for her, and most especially done pretending she didn't want to _know_ what was going on. She hadn't been the one to start this, but in a way, she _had_ been the one to escalate matters, so she shared the responsibility for everything that had happened since, and whatever was to come. She _had_ to help make it all right. Carmilla's claim that the Dean _couldn't_ simply be killed was one of the few things she'd said that Laura had no trouble believing, and she still had no idea where the girls were being taken or what they were being sacrificed to. As such, she needed more information, and a member of the Board of Governors seemed like her best bet at finding some. She'd only been able to locate two of the Board: Baron Vordenberg and the Board Chair-slash-Mayor, Matska Belmonde. Since Mattie was also a vampire, and one the Dean trusted to allow to hold that much power, Laura kind of doubted she'd be terribly willing to help. Which wasn't to say a search of her home or office wouldn't potentially turn up something interesting, but Laura wasn't stupid. Even aside from the regular kind of security that someone with the wealth and power the Mayor held would have, there could also be who knew what manner of supernatural protections in place. _**A lot**_ more research - or a lot more desperation - would be called for before she gave trying that any serious thought.

Baron Vordenberg, on the other hand, was only a Honorary Board Member. (Though, since he seemed to have as much power as any of the others, and could vote and propose motions and such just like any other Board Member, she honestly wasn't sure what the distinction was.) While that might well mean he'd know less information that she needed, it also meant that he might just be more willing to talk to her, and that it might go unnoticed.

Talking to the Baron would also require a great deal of research, but in that case, it would be afterward, double-checking everything he'd told her. German wasn't her first language, but she _did_ know enough to know that 'Lügenbaron' translated to 'Baron of Lies'. She tried to think positively, though: that would make it even more likely that if the Dean found out about the interview, she'd just dismiss it as not worth worrying over, since odds would be good that he'd just try feeding her a pack of lies, and even if he didn't, it wouldn't be hard to convince anyone _else_ that he had.

Well, if Danny had another practice session with the Summers tomorrow (she couldn't remember, just then), at least fact-checking his answers would give Laura something to keep herself busy with all day.

She had called ahead, if only to make sure the Baron was actually home, and that she'd be able to get in to see him. He'd seemed oddly happy at the prospect of a visitor, suggesting he didn't get a lot of company, though his enthusiasm _had_ cooled somewhat when she'd explained why she wanted to talk to him. (Vaguely, anyway; she wasn't about to explain something like _that_ out where anyone could hear her, and she had no idea how secure her cell phone was. Maybe because it was so old and out of date, no one would even think to try and hack into whatever frequency the signal was?) He wasn't _actually_ a baron, of course, as hereditary titles had long since been banned in Austria, and being the 'Baron of Lies' had never been a real title in the first place. The Vordenbergs _had_ been nobility, once, according to the information she'd looked up that one day in the Library (there wasn't much about them online, at least, not anywhere she'd been able to find), but that had been long ago. She still planned to call him Baron when addressing him, of course, as she was no fool. Impulsive and somewhat reckless, sure, but that was different.

She took a taxi out to his home, as he lived a bit outside of town, and even she hadn't felt safe enough to walk that kind of distance alone. (Her Dad would probably be glad about that, even if he'd _really_ rather she just not go at all.) She was in good enough shape that she _could_ have made the trip, but it would have taken too long. If she wasn't back and finished packing by sundown, she just _knew_ Danny would start freaking out. As for the Vordenberg Estate itself...

The grounds were lovely. The vibrant green lawns were meticulously trimmed, colorful flowers peeked out through lush green foliage, and the two-story structure's exterior stonework was unblemished. It was only when one took a closer look that things began seeming not quite right: there were cracks in the base of the statue that was in the center of the island surrounded by the circular driveway, which itself needed a bit of work. The flowers were actually being choked out by weeds, and vines were creeping all over the house. She supposed that could be taken as a metaphor for the person who lived there, regal and respectable until you looked below the surface.

Still, she had to admit, she kind of _wanted_ that house. Even more so once she got inside.

The woodwork inside was _gorgeous_ , and somehow blended seamlessly with the house's masonry. The carpet runners tended to be red, with nice patterns on them. The chandeliers were intricate brass (the one in the entryway, at least, could use a polish). There were portraits hanging on the walls here and there; she recognized some of the places, but none of the people, whom she presumed were ancestors of the present Baron Vordenberg, or friends of theirs. The place could probably be turned into a museum without too much trouble, she decided. Or maybe a bed and breakfast. (And she really needed to stop thinking of what she might do with the place if she owned it, and focus on the here and now.)

The Baron himself was more or less pretty much exactly what she'd expected. An old man, albeit a fairly charming-looking one, with a slightly stooped walk and a cane. "Ah, Fräulein Hollis. Welcome!" Maybe kissing a lady's hand was something that fell under old-fashioned rules of etiquette, but that didn't mean she appreciated it. "I knew a young lady very like you once," he informed her. "A great love affair. Ended before my voyage to the Hesperides for the golden apples of immortality. Turned out to be oranges, you know. So no immortality, but lovely juice."

"How fascinating," she managed, and might even have meant if she'd actually believed a word of that. Oh, given what was currently going on at Silas, she probably shouldn't just rule out the possibility of those apples existing, and even then, sailing off to seek out something from a legend and only finding oranges was actually entirely plausible. But still, something about what he'd said - maybe how unprompted it had been - just didn't ring true. "Anyway, like I said over the phone, I was hoping to ask you some questions for a story I'm working on for my Journalism class."

"Certainly. I'm always happy to help future storytellers when I can." He lead her down the hall - she discreetly wiped the back of her hand off on her pants when he wasn't looking - to what looked to be a private study. There was a fireplace in one wall, with a pair of lances (she thought? Medieval weapons weren't exactly her thing) crossed above the mantelpiece. She didn't recognize anyone in _any_ of the portraits in that room, and didn't bother trying. There were bookshelves crammed full of old tomes spread around the room. Opposite the fireplace was the Baron's desk, carved from sturdy oak, with _very_ comfortable-looking plush leather chairs, two in front, one behind. He waited until she'd sat down - fairly well sinking into the chair, which was _exactly_ as comfortable as it had looked - before making his way around the desk to take his own seat. (Given the cane, she imagined he was relieved to be off his feet... assuming he actually even needed the cane, she supposed.) "I'm surprised you don't work for the Voice of Silas."

"I'm only a Freshman," she replied honestly. Whether there were any actual school rules against joining the staff of the school paper your first year or not, it had been subtly impressed on her that one really needed to have had at least a year with Professor Cochrane before the Voice would even consider accepting you. "I'd like to join next year, though, if I can." Should she live so long. She pulled her bag up into her lap and took her digital recorder out of it, shooting an inquisitive look at Baron Vordenberg. At his nod, she turned it on and set it on the surface of the desk in front of her, then took out one of her notebooks and a pen. She hadn't really jotted down all that much in the way of questions planned out in advance, though she did have a number of things she wanted to ask him about. Might as well start with the big one, she supposed. There might not be any real point in going on if he couldn't even help her at all with that. "For the past few weeks, I've been investigating the disappearance of my roommate, along with several other girls at Silas." She wasn't terribly surprised that his genial expression swiftly vanished, replaced by a vaguely troubled frown. "I don't know if you're aware of the current events at Silas, but the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense has even gotten involved in matters." Or, in other words, the Dean's attention would be focused elsewhere, and a member of the Board cooperating with the investigation could only reflect well on Silas. "It seems that every twenty years, like clockwork, five girls go missing. Given how long you've been a member of the Board of Governors, I was hoping you might know something about where they're going, or what they're being sacrificed to, exactly."

"Oh, well. My, my." She couldn't really blame him for feeling trepidation at the idea of the Dean thinking he was in any way working against her. "Not the sort of thing for a _tres charmante_ lady like yourself to meddle in. No, no. Wouldn't do a thing for me to tell you. Nothing can be done."

"I'm not really meddling, though." She paused. "Well, I suppose I am, but I didn't _decide_ to get involved in this. I'm evidently going to be girl number five. So, really, I have no reason _not_ to continue investigating."

"I see." He still wasn't exactly leaping at the chance to join her in that particular frying pan, which was fair, really. "If you're convinced that such a thing has been going on at Silas for so long, Fräulein, why come to me? By your logic, I might well be involved."

"You're not a vampire." She met his gaze evenly. "I know who the Dean is," she added. "Or what, anyway, since even her own children don't seem to know _who_ she is. Or was."

"If you know as much as you say, Fräulein, I would suggest you head to the airport and get on the first plane out of the country, and don't stop moving."

"I'm not going to just turn my back on Betty and the others to save my own life," she protested. After a slight pause, she added, "Besides, I don't have a passport." She sighed, then continued, "I also don't know who it is that's supposed to be reeling me in. Just that it isn't Bree."

"Ah, Fräulein Vale." A look of sadness stole across his face. "Hers is truly a tragic story, a life of such pious devotion shattered, her soul damned through no fault of her own. Those such as her are the reason my ancestors did everything they could to cleanse the land of the unholy blight of the _vampiren_."

All things considered, she didn't think she could argue against that particular viewpoint just then, whether she'd wanted to or not. "She's the other reason I can't just run. I have to try and help her, if I can." Okay, time to try and get the conversation back on track. That little diversion might have helped him understand her position, and might have nudged him more towards wanting to help, but she only had so much time left before it started getting dark, and she still had some packing to do. "Which is why anything you can tell me about what's going on would be helpful. What exactly is that Hungry Light?"

He was quiet for long enough that she began seriously worrying that he wasn't going to help, and would just tell her to leave. "My presence on the Board is mostly a formality," he finally replied. "A nod to the time when the family had more wealth and power. The _bösewicht_ that runs your school does not invite me to her rituals, and is even more careful not to reveal anything to me that I do not need to know than she is with her unholy children." He smiled grimly. "Still, one does learn a few things merely by being patient, and keeping his eyes and ears open. As you do not have that luxury... The creature that the _junge mädchen_ are sacrificed to may be called the Hungry Light by some, but that light seems to only be a small part of it. Lilith, as I know her, is very patient, but I have seen some signs of frustration. Whatever it is she wants from the creature, I cannot be certain she's getting it, at least not entirely."

Something clicked. "But she may be partially," Laura realized. " _ **A lot**_ of people have tried to kill her, over the years, haven't they? But nothing's worked. Because she's... what? Tied to that thing, somehow?"

"If so, Fräulein, your situation might be even more hopeless than you had believed."

"Maybe," she admitted. "But who knows what the BPRD might be able to come up with?"

"Were I you, I would not rely on those who are lead by a _teufel_ ," Vordenberg warned. "The company they keep does not inspire confidence."

"What, you mean Hellboy?" she blinked. She'd been scribbling down his answers as they spoke, as well as any seemingly relevant thought she had, no matter how random, but now she paused, pen still poised above the paper. "I don't think it's right to judge someone based on where they were born," she said, frowning. "It's not like that's something you can control."

"Very true, Fräulein," he agreed. "I myself faced such pernicious attitudes during the second World War. What troubles me more is _why_ he was sent here. Why send an infant, unless he was meant to be taken in and sheltered? My family learned long ago not to trust such claims, when it came to the forces of darkness."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed heavily, then levered himself to his feet. "Come, Fräulein. I will tell you my family's story. It is not a tale I enjoy telling, but if it helps you understand that you need to be more careful about who - and what - you extend your trust to..." That sounded a little too similar to what Bree had told her to argue, though she refrained from mentioning that. (Bree hadn't been _supposed_ to tell her that, after all.) She wasn't going to automatically trust _him_ , either, even if they were estensibly members of the same species. That really proved nothing, after all.

She grabbed her recorder and stood, letting him lead her - slowly - out of the study and across the hall to another room. It was full of, well, junk. She didn't want to be rude, but there was simply no other word for it. There were a number of chest-high marble pillars (well, chest-high on _her_ , anyway) scattered around the room that held all manner of items: a worn-out leather saddle, a broken and rusted sword, some kind of fist-sized metal... _thing_ that had sharp spikes all over it... The list went on, and none of them seemed terribly relevant to why they were there. "My family's history," he told her, gesturing around the room. "The history not suitable to share with a society that did not believe in monsters. Each one has a story... But that is not why we are here," he said, unknowingly echoing her thoughts. (She was kind of relieved he wasn't about to off on a tangent, too.) "That story concerns _her_ ," he said, indicating the far wall, where there hung a single, life-sized painting.

Of Carmilla.

"Mircalla, the Countess of Karnstein." There was a definite note of anger in his voice when he spoke about her, no matter how he tried to bury it. "The countess was promised to my great-great grandfather. And he loved her... so that when she became a monster, he hid her, and protected her." He glared bitterly at the painting. "And she repaid him by killing all of his family. And all those that he loved. Leaving him to die alone, and dishonored. In so doing, she forever blighted my family's hopes of rising to the _Hochadel_. Were it not for that, I could be of much more assistance to you, Fräulein. The former countess was infamous, both as a ravager of virtue and as a betrayer."

And even today, centuries later, she was still lying. No wonder Bree didn't trust her - and by extension, the rest of the BPRD. "Yeah," she said quietly. "Though... Well, speaking as someone who, shall we say, prefers the company of other girls, I'm pretty sure people would have had some harsh, _burning_ things to say about me, too." Literally. "Not giving her a pass on anything else, mind you. Just... Still a bit sensitive about that sort of thing." She hadn't had to face much in the way of narrow-minded bigotry herself - perhaps because, whether consciously or not, even those type of people in her town knew they had _much_ more dangerous things to worry about - but she'd seen plenty online.

She'd startled him out of his dark memories with that, if nothing else. "Perhaps so. Nevertheless, I hope you will understand why I would remain skeptical of this 'Hellboy'."

"Yeah, I guess I can." Not that she necessarily agreed, but... Well, the forces of evil would hardly be above concocting such a ruse, would they? She stole a look at her watch, and had to bite back a curse. "I need to get going. My girlfriend's gonna _freak_ if I'm not back before dark." Though given her just wandering off alone without telling anyone where she'd be, Danny might just do that, anyway.

"Considering your circumstances, I can hardly blame her for worrying about your safety, Fräulein. I will have my driver take you back to Silas."

"You don't need to do that," she demurred. "I can just call another cab."

"Not at all," he insisted. "This would be much faster. I know I've not been as much help to you as you might have wanted, but I can do this for you." He offered another grim smile. "Besides, if I just send you right back to Silas, the Dean will likely believe I told you nothing."

That was a fair point, she admitted. They weren't yet at a point where it would be safe to post everything she knew, and who'd told it to her. Vordenberg certainly wouldn't be able to defend himself if she came for him. All of which meant no posting any of this until she could figure out another way to explain how she knew it. "Okay," she agreed. The sooner she was back at Silas, the sooner she'd be with Danny. "And thank you. I know you don't feel like you contributed much, but at this point, every little bit helps."

"It's not often I get such a charming visitor," he replied. He did, at least, refrain from kissing her hand again. "If there is anything else I can do, I shall."

The trip back to Silas didn't take all that much longer than the trip out had, which was good. It was dusk when she got back on campus, and she managed to get to her room before anyone else. She dropped her reporter bag off on her bed and immediately grabbed some clothes and shoved them into her regular backpack, along with toiletries. LaF could hang onto J.P.'s flashdrive for the weekend - she was pretty sure they had it now, having said something earlier in the day about researching... something or other; Laura really hadn't understood what either of them had been talking about - and she could film another video from Danny's place. There was only one thing she wasn't sure what to do with:

The Sumerian book.

It was laying on her bed, like it had been all day. Bree would certainly have had ample time to dispose of it earlier if she'd wanted to, so Laura wasn't necessarily worried about that. Still, that didn't mean she wanted to let it out of her sight for an entire day or more. She sat down next to it, opening it and flipping through the pages, stopping at the first blank one. "I don't suppose any of _you_ know how to read this?" she asked aloud, a distinct edge to her tone. Odds were good she was just talking to herself, but if Bree was right and there _was_ still a bug or three present and operating...? "Well. Not like you'd tell me if you did, would you?" She was distracted by the growing sounds of some kind of commotion outside. Given how cool out it was at that time of year, the window was shut, so it had to be _loud_ for her to be hearing it. Or close. Or maybe both.

Curious now, she got up and moved toward the window. Was that screaming? She thought so, but couldn't tell what kind. Parties at Silas could get pretty loud, especially if alcohol and/or the Zetas were involved (though, now that she thought about it, they couldn't be the only fraternity present on the entire college; she had to wonder why she never heard anything about any of the others), so it could be just a bunch of kids having fun. Or-

Before she could even finish the thought - or even make it past Bree's bed - the window exploded inward in a shower of glass that mostly missed hitting her. Before she'd even managed to fully process any of that, the creature that had invaded her room - it was vaguely human shaped, but looked more frog-like than anything else - bounced off the wall, landed on Bree's bed, and lashed out with its deadly-sharp claws, seemingly intent on disemboweling her.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** What can I say? It was time to bring a little more _Hellboy_ lore into this crossover.

Also, I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. I made this one longer than usual, to make up for it.

 

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At most universities, a mostly humanoid frog monster crashing through the window would be something that didn't happen outside of someone's nightmares. In the exceedingly unlikely event that it did, anyone present in that dorm room would be frozen in fear, and would almost certainly be swiftly killed by the hissing, snarling creature.

Silas was not most universities.

Her current situation was certainly not something Laura had ever envisioned, but knowing there were vampires around that had hostile intentions toward her - and that the BPRD, the best chance the missing girls had, may have been compromised - had her perpetually on edge, especially when she was alone. Also, while 'frog monsters' was a new one for her, she'd seen enough even during her short time at Silas to not have all that hard of a time adjusting to the idea. As such, once her mind processed that a hostile... _something_... had just crashed through her window, she flung herself backward away from it.

She wasn't quite fast enough.

Oh, she managed to keep it from tearing her entrails out, which she considered a victory, but that was all. She couldn't manage to avoid the swing entirely, but her move did at least mean her left arm wound up getting in the way, leaving her with slashes her arm and stomach... and flying across the room from the force of the blow to smash painfully into the wall above her bed, and the resulting explosion of pain almost kept her from noticing when she crashed down onto the mattress, winding up sprawled across the Sumerian book.

And that hadn't even seemed to require much effort on the creature's part.

Fear began creeping in past her adrenaline, but she tried to push it back down as best she could. Yes, she was in trouble - _**a lot**_ of trouble - but panicking wasn't going to get her out of it. The creature snarled again, phlegmy and bubbling, and Laura frantically cast about the room for something she could use to defend herself. The idea of using regular household items against this thing was laughable, and she somehow didn't think that whatever this thing was would be affected by holy items. She had a sword somewhere - it had been issued to her upon enrollment "in case of fungal menace" (she _still_ had no idea what _that_ was supposed to mean) - but she couldn't remember where she'd put it, and she somehow doubted the frog monster would give her the time to look for it. Her reporter bag was right next to her, but the only potentially useful thing in there was her pepper spray, and chemically irritating the _homicidal monster_ didn't seem like the best idea ever. It was the only thing she could think of, though, and the thing apparently _already_ wanted to kill her, so...

_Screw it,_ she thought. _Desperate times, desperate measures._

She scrabbled for her bag, nearly broke the zipper getting it open, and frantically searched through it until her hand closed around the cylindrical canister. She yanked it out of the bag, took a split second to get it facing the right way, then let the monster have it right in its stupid froggy face.

It instantly went berserk.

The creature had been reaching toward the bed - its attention had been focused more on _the book_ than her, which she was definitely going to be thinking over later - but jerked away the second the aerosol spray hit it, making a horrible screeching sound and clawing at its face, not even seeming to care that it was leaving bloody gashes in its own skin, and was in serious danger of tearing out its own eyes. An oddly discolored rash began forming on its face and hands, and she thought she caught sight of a pustule or two. She got up - with some difficulty, and a fresh burst of pain that said she might just need serious medical attention after this was all over - and followed it, spraying it again. It shrieked again, thrashing wildly, and flung itself toward, then out, the window. She stood there, listening to its fading screams of pain as it ran away - screams that were abruptly cut off. Hopefully, that meant that security or whoever had taken care of it. She didn't know, and wasn't sure she cared, as long as it was gone. "So... That just happened," she remarked aloud. The immediate threat over, she had time to try and process things... and she wasn't having much luck.

Why in the world would some kind of frog monster randomly burst into her room, try to kill her, and make an attempt to steal the Sumerian book? Had it been some kind of vampiric lackey that Bree hadn't known to warn her about? That didn't make much sense, since the Dean wanted her _alive_ to sacrifice to the Light, and she knew full well that Laura had no idea what the book even said. Someone or something working for the BPRD? Possible, but Carmilla had shown that they could get into her room easily enough already. If they'd wanted the book, all they would have needed to do was wait until she and Bree were out, then slip in and take it. Them wanting her dead didn't seem to make much sense, either, since if they actually were working with the Dean, well, the same logic would apply. If they weren't, as they claimed... Well, it was _possible_ they might want her dead, if only to keep her from being sacrificed, but there were so many easier - and vastly less obvious - ways to go about doing that than killing her, especially in such a messy fashion. She was missing something. Either another player, or another motive. She just couldn't think of who or what that might be. Really, it was getting hard to string any thoughts together at all.

Which might be because she was still bleeding, she realized, somewhat belatedly. She staggered over to her bed and sat down as carefully as she could. Now that her adrenaline was fading, she was starting to notice the pain more, and there was a lot of it. She was also feeling nauseous and light-headed. She fumbled for her phone, only then realizing her fingers were slick with blood. She'd dropped her pepper spray at some point, too, but wasn't sure where. It didn't matter, she decided. Or, at least, it could wait. Right then, she needed help. Lacking anything better to use, she grabbed her pillow and pressed that against her wounds, while awkwardly using her other hand to work her phone. It was hard to focus, but she managed to hit one of the speed dial buttons. (Her phone was so old that it actually had those, with the process of getting to her list of contacts taking much longer than most modern phones; her father, naturally, had programmed emergency services in as the first one.) She'd been trying to call Danny - when something freaky and/or life threatening happened (and Bree wasn't around to take care of things before Laura even _could_ call anyone), she _always_ thought of Danny first - but her fingers slipped, and she hit the wrong button. She only realized what had happened when the call was answered, and by then she'd realized that, despite her efforts, she was losing blood quickly enough that she couldn't really afford to be picky about who she got help from.

She'd just have to take a chance; really, what did she have to lose?

 

* * *

 

 

Hellboy was not known for his patience.

That would hardly be any kind of great revelation for anyone who knew him - or, in many cases, even those who only knew _of_ him. Were anyone to comment on that to Hellboy himself, he would likely snort in amusement and agree completely. As such, the fact that he'd been patiently waiting out the Silas administration regarding room 108 of the Bio Labs building as long as he had was nothing short of amazing. (Admittedly, the various threats to life and limb of the student body _had_ been keeping the BPRD team plenty busy.) It went without saying that they wouldn't find any of the missing girls there, but _something_ was clearly afoot in that lab. Probably the biggest surprise was that the Dean didn't seem to care about their interest in that particular lab. That had the higher-ups wary; though, as Carmilla had suggested, it could easily be one of the Dean's mind games, making them _think_ she didn't care about it so that they'd focus on something else.

Eventually, though, as it usually did, his patience finally expired. They were going to go have a look inside that lab if he needed to break the door down. It was Saturday night, so there was little chance of any students being around. (Even the most dedicated students wouldn't be doing that kind of overtime work when it was only mid-October.) As such, chances were good that anyone they ran into there might well be up to no good. At the very least, they would need to be questioned.

Carmilla had sounded uncharacteristically subdued when she'd wished him good luck before they left. She'd told him about her less than ideal meeting with Laura - and Bree - earlier, so he didn't need to wonder why. Given the growing audience for her videos, Laura being suspicious of them would _not_ be a good thing, but she and Bree _had_ agreed to keep quiet about both that and Carmilla still being alive for the time being, so he wasn't quite sure what Carmilla still seemed so down about. He wasn't likely to figure anything out about that until he could talk to her again, so he set the matter aside for the moment, focusing instead on their mission.

The student body was apparently getting used to seeing the three of them around Silas, as they barely even got any odd looks as they walked across the campus. The few they did attract were likely because it was Saturday night, and they were only just arriving. Hellboy was still undecided if he should be impressed or troubled by that level of acceptance - after all, it wouldn't really count if it was only a byproduct of some sinister means that the Dean was employing to keep people from noticing or caring about her activities. Still, though, Laura proved that even if that was the case, it wasn't true of everyone, so there might well be others at Silas who'd shaken off the Silas Aura of Obliviousness, but were still fine with the supernatural. Even if they didn't end up with a number of promising new recruits in the future from Trofaiach, their local contacts in this part of the world was bound to increase significantly. They'd even been discussing that very thing earlier that day. Abe had pointed out that the townspeople would be more disposed to think well of them if they could successfully rescue the missing girls, which was one of the things that had finally caused Hellboy's patience to snap. The lab might not have had anything to do with the missing girls - Bree had claimed it was run by an 'Oanness Club', which seemed to be an offshoot of some kind of Victorian secret society that they couldn't turn up many solid details about - but it was at least something he could keep busy with while the researchers were working, and it had been bothering him for too long, now. And who knew? If the club really had been around that long, they might well have picked up on the Dean's activities, and if they had... Well, they were scientists, right? Maybe they'd observed and recorded what she was doing, which would not only give them enough proof to launch a _thorough_ investigation - he was sure they could come up with some way of keeping the Dean contained so they could question her - but tell them where the girls were being taken. Even speculations about what was infecting them with parasites would be welcome. It being some kind of 'hungry light' didn't exactly tell them much.

The first hint they got that things wouldn't go quite so smoothly was that there suddenly seemed to be an odd abundance of frogs on campus.

At first glance, there was nothing terribly ominous about them. They were mostly just sitting here or there, some of them hopping about calmly enough. They were out of place, and only started showing up at all as they moved through the campus, but they weren't _doing_ anything. The student body didn't seem to care at all. It took a minute for Hellboy to realize the frogs were watching them.

_Just_ them.

"Oh, yeah, this is gonna end well," he grumbled, eyeing the amphibians. They looked like regular enough frogs, though he didn't know enough about the local wildlife to know if they were native to Austria or not.

"Maybe there's a Silas equivalent of PETA that freed them from their cages in the biology building before they could be dissected, or something?" Liz asked hopefully, though it was clear she didn't actually believe that anymore than the rest of them did.

"Given that that's where we're heading, that's not exactly a reassuring thought," Hellboy pointed out.

"I know," Liz said with a sigh. "But-" She was interrupted by the sound of screams coming from the direction of that very building.

"Aw, crap." So much for any hope that this might go smoothly, Hellboy decided as the three of them abandoned all pretense and started sprinting toward the Bio Labs, the frogs continuing their eerie surveillance of them the whole way. As they got closer, it became clear that students and faculty alike were fleeing from the Bio Labs building. Most of the students didn't seem to have actually been inside, but between those escaping from whatever was in there and the increasingly audible sounds of destruction coming from within, it was easy to tell something was wrong, and anyone who'd been at Silas for any length of time knew better than to be _anywhere_ nearby when something bad was going down.

That was fine with him. Saved them the trouble of evacuating anyone.

The fleeing civilians sped up when the sound of gunfire began coming from within the building. The BPRD team rounded the corner in time to see the body of one of the campus security officers come flying out the door. Whatever was going on was apparently not something that was approved by the Dean... _apparently_. He wasn't going to just automatically accept that, though. Still, whether it was true or just an act, this was different enough from all the other threats they'd stumbled across on the Silas campus to take note of. As for the body...

Despite the sounds of violence still coming from the building, Hellboy paused for a moment to examine it. The dead man's face and neck was covered in odd-looking welts, and was pulled tight against his skull, as if he'd been somewhat dehydrated. _That_ wasn't something Hellboy had ever seen before, and while he might not enjoy the research part of their job himself, he liked charging into situations completely blind even less. He didn't really have a choice, though, with people still in danger, so he and Abe charged toward the building. He heard Liz snapping a few pictures of the corpse with her phone, presumably to send back to HQ for analysis, and didn't comment. She'd be right behind them the second she was done, and that _was_ a necessary part of the job. Besides, this way there'd be someone covering the exit in case something got past them.

Something like the bizarre frog-like creature in the hallway ahead of them.

The gunfire had, by then, fallen silent. That it had continued at all with no other guards - living or dead - in sight told them that there was more than one of the creatures. This one had been heading back down the hall, presumably to join up with however many others there were, but had paused when it heard their footsteps on the tile floor. Hellboy had just enough time to take in the clothing scattered on the floor - suggesting that either Froggy liked killing people while naked, or it was capable of assuming a human form - then, with a gurgling growl, it launched itself at him with a prodigious leap. He got his left arm up in time to catch it before it hit him, and its tongue lashed out, wrapping around his arm. He shouted in pain, punching it with his great stone fist. "Cut that out!" The frog monster was sent flying, bouncing off the wall and smashing to the floor. It bounded back to its feet with dismaying speed.

"Hellboy?" Abe asked, concerned, even as he trained his gun on the creature. Whatever the thing was, it clearly knew a gun when it saw one, hesitating.

"Damn thing's tongue was around my arm for all of two seconds, and everything south of my elbow might as well be made of wood." Given how much harder to hurt Hellboy was than the rest of them, that was an alarming statement. "Guess we know what killed that guard, now." The sound of shattering glass came from one of the classrooms, and more screams came from outside. He cursed. "You and Liz make sure none of them get away. I got this."

Abe's tone was politely skeptical as he asked, "You sure?"

Before he could answer, the creature took advantage of Abe's slight distraction to bolt through a nearby open doorway. Not having had access to the building's floorplan, Hellboy had no idea if there was another window in there or not, so he had to hurry. "I'm sure. I don't know what these things are, but I somehow doubt them showing up here and now is a coincidence."

Kate's voice came over their comms, which he'd almost forgotten he was even wearing. " _Campus security has been notified of the situation. They're converging on the building, but satellite tracking shows two of the creatures heading toward the dorms. If you don't at least slow them down, they'll slip through the net, and I don't think the student patrols are up to handling something like this._ "

Feeling was starting to creep back into Hellboy's left hand. That feeling, unfortunately, was _**pain**_. One of the worst pains he'd ever felt, in fact, and he'd been hurt by experts. If nothing else, that did support Kate's statement. "You heard the lady, Abe. Get moving. I'll catch up once I take care of this one. If these things aren't the Dean's minions, they might not stop at the property line." Letting the whatever-they-weres get to town was simply not an acceptable outcome.

Abe knew that, too, because he didn't look at all happy, but he stopped arguing. "Be careful," he said instead.

"Hey, you know me."

"Exactly."

Hellboy snorted in amusement, and Abe hurried outside. BPRD tracking was keeping an eye on the creatures for now, which was always helpful, but that would get a _lot_ harder if they managed to reach a population center. They were, indeed, both heading for the dorms. Hellboy had an ugly suspicion that they were really heading for _one_ dorm - one dorm _room_ , really - though there was no real evidence to support that. Somehow, though, he could feel it: the things were heading for Laura. What he didn't know was why. As far as he was aware, nothing had really changed since Carmilla had talked to her earlier in the day, and there certainly hadn't been anything that would prompt something like _this_ then.

He needed more information, and wasn't going to get it just standing there. He advanced cautiously toward the door the creature had disappeared through. The room on the other side was (naturally) pitch black. The light from the hall was enough to let him tell that it was full of desks, and was likely used for lectures. At least that meant that he wouldn't need to worry about crashing into any dangerous chemicals. There weren't many positives in his current situation, but he'd take what he could get.

Froggy wasn't stupid; the creature wasn't going to just jump out at him like the villain in an old slasher movie. It knew it had the advantage if it stayed out, made him come into the dark room where it could ambush him again. Doing so was a bad idea, he knew, but he had little choice. He had to wrap this up sooner, rather than later, in case Liz and Abe needed his help. He also wanted to get a look at room 108, since he was there and all. He could see that the door to the lab had been broken down... and that it had been knocked _inward_. The creatures had been trying to get in, not out, and he wanted to know why.

His left hand was in screaming agony, but he forced it to respond anyway, first fumbling for a light switch - he found one, but, to his lack of surprise, it didn't seem to work - then pulling his gun. He wasn't a good shot under the best circumstances, which these weren't, but Froggy hadn't minded getting up close and personal before. Hopefully, the fact that he hadn't managed to _really_ hurt it before would encourage it to try that again. Even he wasn't likely to miss at point-blank range. He walked slowly into the room.

Nothing happened.

He took a few more steps, but Froggy continued staying out of sight. "Oh, come on," he complained. "Do I need to resort to clichéd measures, here? Go back out and walk through the door backward? Maybe tell someone I'll be right back?"

Froggy pounced.

It must have been been hiding up near the ceiling or something, he decided, because it crashed into him from above, fists smashing into the back of his neck, knocking him to the ground. He lost his grip on his gun in the confusion, and it skidded across the floor. _Always got to do things the hard way,_ he mentally griped as he swiftly brought up his legs, planted his hooves, and threw Froggy into the nearest wall. It hit with enough of an impact to momentarily stagger it, but the creature again recovered with annoying swiftness, bounding at him again.

This time, he was ready.

He hadn't had time to even locate his gun, let alone retrieve it, but this time he got his right arm between him and the creature. Evidently, it wasn't _that_ smart - that, or some reflexes were too deeply ingrained to ignore - because it tried the same trick with its tongue. For almost seventy years, now, the BPRD had tried and failed to analyze his right hand. There was one thing Hellboy _was_ sure of, though: It didn't feel pain.

Froggy, however, did. Particularly when Hellboy punched it, then yanked it back by the tongue, only to hit it again, like the world's ugliest paddleball. He continued that until its skull gave way. What dropped from his fist was a frog monster.

What hit the ground wasn't.

"...huh."

 

* * *

 

 

As it turned out, whatever else they were capable of, the frog monsters could _really_ haul ass. They'd almost reached the dorms before Abe, who'd been moving at a dead sprint the whole time, was close enough to risk taking a few shots at them - and this was after they'd been briefly delayed by another security officer. He hit one of them, making it stagger to a halt, but it didn't fall. The other creature abruptly jinked off to the side, dodging gunfire from him and Liz, who'd just managed to catch up, zipping around the corner and out of sight. Meanwhile, the frog monster he'd shot lurched back into motion, heading the other way.

Abe cursed, not wanting to split up further, but unwilling to let the injured one go while they focused on its friend, even temporarily. Before he could say anything, though, the other creature abruptly flew back into view, sailing backward for another ten feet before it crashed to the ground. For a wild moment, he wondered if Hellboy had already finished with the first creature and had somehow managed to circle around ahead of them. The idea really made no logical sense, but Hellboy didn't always let things like logic or the laws of physics stop him. Instead, a petite blonde stepped around the corner, looking thoroughly annoyed.

Bree. Somehow, it wasn't a surprise.

She swiftly took in the situation, then looked over her shoulder and snapped, "Keep back! Don't engage unless one of them tries getting past you." Evidently satisfied that whoever she was talking to was going to listen, she refocused on the creature she'd punched back into the fray, which had gotten warily back to its feet.

Confident that one was under control, at least for the moment, Abe turned his attention back to the injured creature. Without needing to exchange a word, he and Liz coordinated fire on it before it could team up with the other one, chipping away until it fell to the ground.

As a puddle of greenish goo and human bones.

"What in-?" That was all he had time to say before he was abruptly blindsided by a _fourth_ creature. He was aware of Liz shouting something, but most of his attention was taken up by trying to keep the creature from clawing his face off, and avoiding its tongue. He was mostly successful, though not enough to keep from being slashed at all. It was strong - very strong - so he wasn't sure how long he could keep even that up.

Until it burst into flames.

With the creature in such close proximity and moving around so much, Liz must have decided not to risk trying to shoot it again, and had pulled out the heavy artillery. He was able to kick it back, and it staggered away, at which point Liz cranked it up, swiftly reducing the creature to ashes. "Good work," he told her, climbing painfully to his feet. "Thanks."

"I can do the small stuff fine," she said. She probably felt like apologizing for risking using the fire when he'd been so close to her target, but would have felt awkward doing so after he'd thanked her for it, so avoided having to address it at all. As if to prove her claim, she turned to the creature Bree had been fighting, which was quickly incinerated. The startled vampire took a step back, then glanced at the BPRD agents, naturally deciding they were the likely cause of that. "You okay?"

"Scratches. I'll be fine." His wounds were a bit deeper than that, admittedly, but were still just superficial. Once he got them bandaged, he'd be fine. "Come on." They walked over to Bree. Once they were close enough to see around the corner of the dorm in front of them - it was one of the boys' dorms, he thought, but wasn't sure - they could see she'd been talking to a number of armed students. One of the patrols, probably. The only one he recognized was Danny.

"Nice trick," Bree said by way of a greeting, eyeing them warily. The sword she held - and Abe had to wonder if she hadn't been patrolling _with_ the other students, given their usual habit of carrying around medieval melée weapons; if so, that suggested the others had either accepted her for what she was, or were being pragmatic and practical regarding her capabilities - was stained with green blood, making it clear she'd at least been holding her own against the creature, if not winning.

"Are you alright?" Liz asked her. She didn't like discussing her pyrokinesis even with her close friends, like Abe, so she naturally avoided the subject entirely with an outsider and potential enemy like Bree. "You didn't touch its tongue, did you?"

Bree's expression momentarily shifted to one of disgust. "Why would I have done _that_?"

"Trust me, you would have been in a world of hurt if you had."

"If you say so." Her gaze flicked over to Abe. "You're injured."

"It's nothing," he insisted.

"Then it shouldn't take long to be bandaged up," she countered. Not sure how to decline the implied offer without seeming needlessly confrontational and antagonistic, and not really _wanting_ to just stand around bleeding, he acceded and let one of the students clean his wounds and apply bandages. Her motions were quick and smooth enough to suggest medical training, or at least first-aid classes. He had to wonder if those were encouraged at Silas, possibly even something of a requirement.

That could wait until later, however. "How many were there, total?" he asked instead. Hellboy had announced over the comms that he'd killed the one he'd been fighting, but they'd been too busy with their own fight to respond. "This brings the total we took down to four."

"Security reported that a car with four people in it pulled into the visitor's parking lot about ten minutes before your arrival." Bree's words didn't match the mild alarm that was suddenly on her face.

"Good, that's-"

"Apparently," she interrupted, "they broke into that same lab _you_ were asking about, because another one of them was being held there for study."

Which _did_ explain her expression - one of the creatures was completely unaccounted for, and had been for some time. "Where could-?"

He was interrupted again, this time by inhuman screams of pain. Faint at first, but quickly getting louder, until the missing fifth frog monster ran into view, clawing at its face as it charged at the student patrol... and went right past them. Danny maintained the presence of mind to trip it with her spear, sending it to the ground. Rather than lash out, it seemed to ignore her, writhing about on the ground until she slammed the spearpoint through its skull. It thrashed about for a few moments, then went limp. It collapsed into the by now familiar goo-and-bones combination shortly after. Danny shot a confused look at Bree, who could only shrug.

"That one looked like it had been hit by some kind of chemical weapon," Liz suggested after a few moments, breaking the bewildered silence that had fallen. "We really need to figure out what it was doing."

Abe had to agree; if Liz hadn't been around, things could have been much worse. Anything that would serve as an effective weapon against such creatures had to at least be considered. "Especially if there turns out to be m-" For the third time, he was interrupted, this time by Liz's phone ringing. He threw up his free hand in exasperation, giving up; clearly, someone up there didn't want him finishing a sentence right then. The student - presumably one of the Summer Society - who'd been bandaging him up patted his shoulder sympathetically.

Liz looked at the display on her phone, and her eyebrows rose in surprise. "Kate, I need someone to patch my phone signal through the comms." She ignored the curious looks she was getting, waiting a few seconds until her request was carried out. (The abrupt ringing coming over Abe's own comm confirmed that.) That done, she raised the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

" _Oh. This was your number? Huh._ "

"Laura?" Given that she'd made sure everyone on the BPRD team would be able to hear her, Liz's confusion had to be caused by how weary Laura sounded than the fact that she was calling at all. "Are you alright?"

There was a pause, as if Laura needed to gather her thoughts. Not exactly a good sign. They also now had Danny's full attention. " _Not... really, no. I might need some stitches. Or..._ " Another pause. " _There was this frog-looking thing. Came in through the window. I... Oh, dizzy..._ "

Bree had stiffened in alarm, doubtlessly able to hear both sides of the conversation. "Kate, we're going to need an ambulance," Abe said into his own comms.

" _Already on it,_ " Kate replied tersely.

" _...who's that?_ " Laura was clearly at least _trying_ to focus, with mixed success.

Liz, by contrast, was fully focused, shoving her own agitation aside for the time being. "Professor Kate Corrigan. I'll introduce you later."

"Why not just take her to the campus hospital?" Danny broke in, almost hiding her frantic worry behind a mask of suspicious anger. Almost. "It's a lot closer."

"It would also be a lot easier for certain parties to make her mysteriously disappear for a day or so there," Abe replied, and Danny's expression hardened as realization set in. "In the hospital in town, under guard... less so."

"Danny, go wait in the parking lot for the EMTs." Bree wasn't reacting much better than Danny was, and making sure there wasn't going to be a new problem was probably the only reason she hadn't already taken off to get to Laura.

"But-!"

" **Go.** " Her tone made it clear that had _not_ been a request. Danny didn't look happy, but she was smart enough to know that somebody had to guide the EMTs to Laura, and that she might have worsened Laura's injuries if she'd just run in there and grabbed her.

" _Why did some kind of frog monster... person... whatever... break into my room and attack me?_ " Laura had been asking while they talked. " _And... I think it wanted the book._ "

"The Sumerian book?" Liz asked in surprise.

" _Yeah. I was... Huh?_ " There was a pause. " _Is that... new text appearing because I'm_ _ **bleeding**_ _on it?_ " She paused, sighed, and answered her own question. " _Right, of course it is. I swear, this school..._ "

"Oh, _that's_ not a good sign," Liz muttered. She and Abe had started for Laura's dorm - Bree had already run ahead, after sending the rest of the student patrol on its way - and that just made her pick up her pace. To Laura, she said, "Just keep talking, okay? Bree should be there any minute, but you need to stay awake."

" _I know._ " Laura sounded annoyed, which Abe attributed to weariness induced by blood loss. " _My Dad had me take plenty of first-aid classes._ " There was the faint sound of wood splintering, a pause, then Laura made a quiet sound of amusement. " _The door wasn't locked, you know._ "

" _I don't really care._ " Bree's voice was just barely audible.

Confident Bree would be able to keep Laura awake until they could get there, Liz told her, "We'll be there in a few minutes, okay? Just hang on." After Laura assured her that she'd be fine 'you know, eventually', she hung up, then said into her comm, "HB, you catch all that?"

" _Loud and clear,_ " his gruff voice responded. " _I'm gonna take a look around the lab while we're waiting for the ambulance, see if there's anything left after Froggy and Friends tore through there. Let me know when we're heading out._ "

"Will do." She shook her head and broke into a run. "I don't get this, Abe. I really don't get this."

"I don't think any of us do." The only potentially good thing to come from the evening's events was the newly revealed text in the Sumerian book. Hopefully, whatever it said would have something to do with what was going on at Silas.

They really needed a break.


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Hmm, my first post-season 3 chapter. I probably can't hit my readers right in the feels quite as much as the finale did (though whether that was for good or bad reasons depended on the viewer), but let's see what I _can_ manage to do. ^_^

 

* * *

 

Hellboy took in the ruins of room #108 - presumably the 'Milgram Lab' Bree had mentioned when they'd spoken to her after killing the cecaelia - and scowled. The place looked like a bomb had gone off. Having never seen it intact, he had no idea what it was _supposed_ to look like, and the mess he was looking at offered precious few clues. Any furniture in the room had been torn into surprisingly small pieces, every computer there had been smashed beyond recognition, and the shattered remains of what he guessed had been a glass tube were in the center of the room. Presumably, that was where Froggy's captive friend had been being held, though how the other four had known that...

The BPRD team had only been aware that something was different about this particular lab because LaFontaine had caught a glimpse of something they likely weren't meant to see through the door once. Laura had never even mentioned it in her videos (not that there would have been a reason to, as it hadn't had anything to do with the missing girls). That suggested there was some kind of connection between the creatures. Probably psychic, given how isolated the scientists would have had it. Well, maybe Thorne would get a chance to justify his presence on the mission, after all. If there were more of the creatures, and they knew what had happened to the group at Silas... Best to find that out and track them down before they decided to return the favor. (Thorne's efforts to use his abilities to trace the connection from Sarah Jane back to whatever had infected her had gone exactly as badly as Hellboy had expected, knocking the man out. He'd been pretty sure whatever it was that the Dean was sacrificing girls to, it would be _far_ too powerful for that sort of thing to be a good idea. To his credit, Thorne had known that, too, but had needed to at least try, saying he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he didn't. He was brave enough, Hellboy had to admit.)

Before he could even suggest that to Kate over the comms - bringing him out to Silas would disprove the supposition that the Styrian contingent for the BPRD consisted of his team and a couple of technicians, as he had no doubt the Dean had been watching their house, once she knew about them, but there were ways around that if the higher ups _really_ cared - an icy tingling sensation on the back of his neck told him he wasn't alone. He turned to see Lilita Morgan herself standing in the doorway, watching him, her face a blank mask.

Well... This could potentially be interesting. "Dean Morgan," he said flatly. Not the most respectful greeting ever, but given his evening so far, it was the best she was going to get. He was in no mood to play nice with the cause of all their current problems, to say nothing of the woman who'd made Carmilla's life hell for centuries.

"Hellboy." She wasn't any more enthused to see him, though there was a touch of derision in her utterance of his name. Given how atypical a name it was - it wasn't, perhaps, the most dignified name, either - he'd heard that before, and was unphased. "Why am I not surprised to find your agency involved in this latest disturbance?"

"Because students were in danger and all two or three security guards you had in the line of fire couldn't handle it?" That was it, he decided. No more games. Giving up on finding anything useful in the lab - the damned frogs had been _thorough_ in their destruction - he stalked across the room to loom over the Dean. She didn't move an inch, and her expression didn't so much as flicker. She was tough, he had to give her that. "Cut the crap, lady. Those things came out of your lab."

"In point of fact, they broke _into_ it," she corrected. "Precisely what you have been threatening to do for days, now."

His eyes narrowed, not liking her implication. "Well, maybe if we had, we'd have been able to prevent this. Shame you apparently lost the key. What were those things?" he asked, hoping a rapid change of subject might at least shake loose an honest answer to at least that one question.

She stared at him for a long moment. She had the kind of stare that could have withered the life from small animals and turned potted flowers black. "That is what we were endeavoring to find out," she said at length. "Regardless of what you may believe, this incident was neither ordered nor approved. I will not pretend to grieve over the deaths of the fallen guards, but they were _my_ employees. This laboratory was the property of _my_ university. Someone will be made to answer for this insult."

For once, he got the feeling that she was actually being completely honest with him. Would wonders never cease? "Where are the members of that 'Oannes Club' that uses this lab?"

"Being escorted to the campus hospital for testing, to ensure they are who and what they say they are."

"And if they're not?"

She offered him a brief, arctic smile that got nowhere near her eyes, and said nothing.

He couldn't really be surprised. "We're gonna want to know the results of those tests."

"I'm certain. That hardly places me under any obligation to provide them."

"Not even after we went out of our way to protect the students and employees of your university?"

"Did you?" She raised a politely skeptical eyebrow. "Tell me, demon, what were you doing on my campus at all tonight? To respond so quickly to the evident threat... You must have already been close to the building."

"We were investigating." He had to admit - reluctantly - that, if looked at objectively, the timing of the attack so close to their visit might seem suspicious. The Austrian government might think the same, so he _did_ see why he needed to be careful and political, at least until he had real proof to bring against the Dean. He was just having trouble staying calm enough to care. "I presume they saw us coming through all those frogs that were scattered around the campus, and dropped all pretense of subtlety." Because if they'd been able to infiltrate Silas while in human form, why suddenly abandon that and go on the attack? They might have been able to come and go with no one the wiser.

"Perhaps so," the Dean conceded. "Nevertheless, if it becomes known that you or any or yours had _anything_ to do with this at any point, there will be consequences."

That sparked off his anger again, and he had to fight down the urge to just take a swing at her and have done with it. He'd even recovered his gun, and she was more than close enough that he was sure that he could hit her, even with her speed. "Except that there won't, because we didn't."

"Are you so certain of that?" There was a faint, malicious amusement lurking in her eyes. "Well. Far be it for _me_ to tell you otherwise, then. However, as there would seem to be nothing for you to learn here, I must ask you to leave, so that the laboratory may be closed off until maintenance can begin cleaning and reconstruction work."

As much as he hated the thought of doing _anything_ that woman said, he'd already admitted to himself that the lab was a bust in terms of gaining any useful information, and it was actually a reasonable request a school's administration might make in this kind of situation. "Unless you move, that would mean going through you." His tone was casual enough, but his eyes - for those that knew how to read them - likely conveyed his hope that she didn't budge an inch.

A brief, icy smile ghosted across her face. "Oh, that is _not_ something that would go well for you, demon," she said softly. She paused for another moment or so, as if she was sorely tempted to oblige him, but pragmatism ultimately won out, and she stepped out into the hall.

He followed, as much to keep an eye on her as anything. The door having been battered down, it could hardly be closed behind them. "If any more of those things do show up, you might want to think about equipping your guards appropriately." She wasn't likely to let the BPRD know, after all, even if they were already on the campus, and he didn't want anyone else to die because Dean Morgan refused to cooperate.

"And what, pray tell, would you have me equip them with?" She was striding quickly down the hall, forcing him to keep up. He didn't know what was worse: the imperious attitude, or that she was so confident in her ability to take him down that she had no problem turning her back to him. "None of the tests run on the specimen showed any particular demonstrable weakness, and if the Oannes Club was complicit in this, even the results they did provide may well be suspect."

"Pepper spray." He hadn't asked for Thorne to be sent in, but he also hadn't ever actually shut his comm off, so until Liz and Abe _had_ , he'd been able to listen in as they saw to Laura's well-being, and she'd stayed awake and coherent at least long enough to explain how she'd survived her attack.

The Dean raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Your lab wasn't the only target." Given the broken window and the fact that Laura was being taken to the hospital, even if Bree didn't tell her, the Dean would be finding out what had happened soon enough, so there was no point in not telling her. "One of the creatures, evidently the one you'd been holding, broke into room three-oh-seven of Crowley Hall, and tried to kill Laura Hollis. She repelled it with a couple shots of pepper spray, which it seemed to have an extreme allergic reaction to."

She came to an abrupt halt, and for the first time since he'd met her, looked rather nonplussed. "...pepper spray," she said slowly.

"That was kind of my reaction," he admitted. As much as he might enjoy her bafflement, the thought that the lives that had been lost that night could have been spared if they'd just been carrying such an ubiquitous - and readily available - self-defense item killed any amusement he might have been feeling. As such, he elected not to point out that scientists sometimes had a habit of overcomplicating things, and that someone who'd been around as long as she had should have known better than to automatically discount the simpler, more direct approach.

That, however, was all the concession she'd be getting from him.

 

* * *

 

Laura experienced a long moment of fuzzy confusion when she woke up.

A good part of that was due to her not having been trying to fall asleep. As requested, she'd managed to stay awake until the EMTs arrived - the process of getting her loaded into the ambulance would have been hard to sleep through, especially with Bree hurrying it along by carefully carrying her downstairs, rather than trying to fit a gurney into the elevator - but when they'd added some painkillers to the IV they were hooking her up to... After her long day, adrenaline rush, and blood loss, that must have been the last straw. She thought she remembered hearing Danny's voice, but wasn't sure what she might have been saying. The transition from ambulance to hospital bed was a bit jarring, too. She shifted in bed... or tried to, anyway. Her body felt heavy, for some reason. She was also nice and warm, though, particularly on her right side.

"Well, good morning," a voice off to the side said. It took a moment for Laura's brain to get going enough to identify it as Carmilla. "Sleep well?"

"I... think so?" She felt more or less rested, though not quite as much as she should have, if it really was Sunday morning, now. "What time is it?"

There was a slight shifting sound, like Carmilla was sitting somewhere near the bed - not next to it, though, which was somewhat reassuring - and had moved a bit, but Laura couldn't quite summon up the energy to open her eyes to check. "Almost eight."

It was? "I don't feel like I slept that long."

"They replaced the blood you lost, but lethargy isn't an uncommon reaction after blood transfusions, especially when you were sedated."

"I'll defer to the expert on that."

"The sedatives should wear off soon enough," Carmilla promised. "I think they just didn't want you moving around while they stitched you up. If there's any bright side to being injured at Silas University, though, it's that their Alchemy Club has developed potions and salves that can minimize or even prevent scarring. Gonna have to wait and see which category you fall into."

That was nearly enough to force her eyes open right then and there. "How generous of them," she said suspiciously.

"Not really. Whether they're supposed to or not, I think Bree called in a favor."

"Ah." That _did_ make sense, and helped her calm down. She realized she didn't hear a heart monitor beeping, and hoped that meant that she was only in a bed because they hadn't wanted to wake her up, and once she was examined, she'd be allowed to leave. Danny must have been _freaking out_. Actually... "Where _is_ Danny, anyway? I'm surprised she's not camped out at my bedside."

"Pretty sure she was, before. I haven't been here all that long, really, but from what Bree said, she's been in and out all night. Hard to tear through Silas looking for more of the frogs to kill if she's parked here mooning over you, after all."

Those were both things Laura could easily see Danny doing, so it wasn't surprising to learn that she'd been being torn between them. "More?" She hoped not. She'd barely survived one, after all.

"There were five, total. They're all dead. Pretty sure Xena was happy to learn that the one she killed _was_ the one that had hurt her girlfriend."

Laura smiled, just a little. She was pretty sure of that, too. "So why are _you_ here?"

"Someone has to be, to make sure Mother dearest doesn't make off with you while you're vulnerable, and Red's team is back on campus, looking around."

She really didn't want to think about that. "You mentioned Bree a couple of times. Where is she?" Because if she had to choose between the two, she knew who her preferred guard would be. Though, since Bree could be _made_ to stand aside, she knew she'd have no chance of convincing the BPRD they weren't needed.

Carmilla chuckled. "Her? Oh, she's exactly where she's been since they finished working on you, and she figured out how to position herself. Nobody could get her to move, which is probably the only reason Xena felt safe leaving you alone at all."

Huh? Laura's brow furrowed in confusion, but no further explanation was forthcoming. Having little alternative, she had no choice but to focus on waking herself up further and blinking her eyes open, wincing at how bright the room was. Once her eyes had adjusted, she looked down from the ceiling, and immediately figured out what Carmilla had meant, as well as why she felt sort of like someone was holding her down.

Someone was.

Evidently, once she'd been satisfied about Laura's condition, Bree had climbed up onto the bed, snuggled up against her, and simply stayed there. She'd arranged herself carefully to avoid any of Laura's injuries, with an arm draped across her torso and a leg across her own. Had anyone tried to move Laura - or had she herself tried to get up before she was supposed to - it was clear she wouldn't have been going anywhere. Laura couldn't help but feel a bit choked up. "Well, guess we know the reason for her presence at Silas, now," she managed to say, looking down at the mass of blonde hair tucked up near her pillow. "To make me cry." It was impossible to tell if Bree was awake or asleep, though Laura couldn't help but doubt that she'd _ever_ fall asleep while on guard duty, especially with Carmilla around. She knew she shouldn't have been surprised - and really, she wasn't, at least not by the fact that Bree was there - but this was the girl who hadn't wanted to get too attached to her, since that would only make it hurt that much more when Laura was gone.

Apparently, it was too late for that.

"Well, you did the same for her the other day, didn't you?" Carmilla pointed out. Now that Laura was looking, she could see that Carmilla was wearing a black T-shirt and a BPRD hat, with her hair tied back in a ponytail. There was an agency-issued jacket draped over the back of the chair she was sitting in, too. Evidently, she wanted to make sure everyone knew she was there in a professional capacity. (And, maybe, she was dressing down to avoid notice as much as possible, to try and keep the Dean from finding out about her.)

"Of course I did." She couldn't even get worked up about the fact that Carmilla only knew that because she'd been spying on them. "And I'm not surprised that she's here. After all..." She turned and smiled softly down at Bree. "Family stays." She was vaguely aware of Carmilla's startled reaction, most of her attention focused entirely on Bree. Had she in any way doubted that her roommate was a vampire, the way that she went still - and she already hadn't been moving - would have convinced her. Nothing human could freeze in place like that.

There was a sniffle, then Bree muttered, "I _told_ you that you shouldn't..."

"Not saying it wouldn't make it be less true," she said, remembering Bree's request from the other day. She paused, then said, "Wow. Was it really only the other day that you asked me that? Man, little wonder I was so tired, then." She'd had _a lot_ to deal with in the interim.

"That may be **a** reason," Carmilla agreed mildly. "Like I said, though, they had to sedate you to keep you still long enough to stitch you up. The reason they did that was that they removed your bracelet while they worked, and your sleep was _not_ restful until they were done, and Bree could give it back to you."

"Ah." That did make sense, both in terms of the doctors' actions and her residual tiredness. "I don't really remember much of what I dreamed." Though that might change; she hadn't remembered anything before, but details were slowly trickling back... no matter how much she didn't want them.

"Well, speaking of things that you couldn't hold onto while the hospital staff was working..." Carmilla stood up and stretched, which Laura _tried_ not to pay that close attention to. She was distracted from that by the realization that Carmilla was holding the Sumerian book. Laura hadn't been able to see it, when she'd been sitting down, the hospital bed being too high to notice that, rather than the leather pants she'd had on the previous day, Carmilla was instead wearing a pair of faded blue jeans. Still fairly casual, but maybe less of a Carmilla-esque thing to wear. Though, they'd still probably show off her ass nicely if she turned around and bent over at all.

Not that Laura was looking, or anything. Nope, not her. No way.

(It really was a good thing she wasn't hooked up to a heart monitor, she decided.) "I was wondering what had happened to that," she commented, maintaining as casual of an air as she could manage. Inwardly, she had to wonder if she'd be getting the book back, now.

"Leaving it just laying around on your bloody sheets didn't seem like the best idea," Carmilla said, which... Yeah, she couldn't really argue with. "I also wanted to get a look at that text that Bree couldn't identify, and since we don't have any better idea than you how the Library would react to the book being taken away for good, we needed to make a copy of everything that was visible."

"You came up with some kind of gadget or something to let you scan the pages?" Laura supposed that if anybody would know how to do that sort of thing, it would be the BPRD, but she wasn't sure she liked the idea that they'd done something so quickly that LaFontaine and J.P. hadn't managed to do at all.

"No, and I didn't bother trying," Carmilla said, which actually made Laura feel a little better. "I just went out and bought a whole bunch of tracing paper and copied it the hard way. Gave me something to do while waiting for visiting hours."

"I didn't even think of..." She had to fight down the urge to facepalm. She could have had J.P. translating the book days ago.

"Yeah, not everything has - or needs - a high tech solution," Carmilla said with a little smile. "No idea if the other blank pages are actually blank or not, though. We even tried more blood, but nothing. No idea if that means you managed to bleed onto the only such page that had text hidden on it, or the others need something else to unlock them, or..." She shrugged. "We haven't been able to identify the second language in here, yet, either. It seems to be talking about some kind of collection of artifacts - it would apparently be a _very_ bad idea to bring them all together - but given how the text starts mid-sentence, and doesn't properly identify much of anything, either some of it is hidden for some reason, or there's at least one page missing, if not more."

Laura frowned. "Wait. If you don't know what it _is_ , how do you know what it _says_?"

"Hellboy has the innate ability to comprehend ancient and magical languages," Carmilla said simply. "That doesn't mean he'll know what they're called, though, as Mother is no doubt well aware."

Which explained why Carmilla was being so forthcoming: there was no reason not to be. Laura would have eventually thought of copying the words and symbols onto something that her camera _could_ see for J.P. to translate, and mystery language aside, the only page she'd need to focus on would be the text she'd revealed last night, as Bree had told her nothing else in there seemed to fit. As far as the missing girls were concerned, the BPRD hadn't given her any new information at all. "I don't suppose you feel like telling me what that page I bled on says?"

To her surprise, Carmilla opened the book and flipped through it to the page in question. "It's an entry for something called... Lophiiformes, the Light That Devours." Laura sat up in bed, forcing Bree to do the same, as Carmilla continued, "Let's see... 'This ancient evil demands'... I can't tell what that symbol is; I think you bled on it a bit too much. Anyway, '...five sacrifices every twenty years. Once the victims are marked, their world narrows to celebration'."

"That's our mystery creature, alright," Laura decided. "Anything in there about how to take it out?" It occurred to her after she spoke that, if there was a weakness listed, the BPRD might not want her knowing what it was. "I won't put it in my videos, if there is," she quickly added.

"Not that I've seen. 'Old as the ocean's depths, the Light That Betrays All', blah blah blah blah, 'draws the devoured to it and consumes their minds, which increases the Light, and draws in more of the devoured'. It refers to the thing as one of the Ogdru Hem - whatever _those_ are - and everything after that is more in the all-hail-and-cower-muling-worms vein."

"The Ogdru what?" Laura asked Bree.

The blonde shook her head, then pulled a hair tie from her pocket and set about taming her tousled hair. "That's not a term I've ever heard before. Nor is the creature's name, for that matter."

"Not really a surprise," Carmilla decided. "Mother's far too careful about that sort of thing." She walked over to stand near Laura, then closed the book and handed it to her. "The question, really, is who sent those frog monsters to Silas. Because I don't remember you ever mentioning that book in your videos, and after Bree looked through it and saw that there was nothing in there that would help stop her, she wouldn't have cared that you had it. She's also taking the destruction of Silas property and the deaths of the security guards that got in the creatures' way as a personal insult, from what Hellboy told me."

"So someone else wants me dead," Laura stated, shoulders falling. She'd already figured that was likely the case last night, but sitting in the hospital recovering from that murder attempt hammered the concept home. "Great." That sparked a new thought. "I take it from the fact that he's not here building a fortress around me that my Dad doesn't know about this?"

"You're not a minor, so the hospital didn't need to call him," Bree told her. "I knew you'd worry, though, which is why I convinced the Alchemy Club to help out."

Laura gave her a squeeze with her right arm. "Thanks." Her injuries were still covered by bandages, but she was sure that, once those were gone, it would be hard to tell she'd been hurt at all. That was good, since her Dad _always_ looked. She rested her head on Bree's shoulder. "Always did want a sister."

Bree was too choked up to respond.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Well, things seem to be looking up for Laura, right? What could possibly happen to change that? *innocent look*

(Also, I can't even begin to explain why it took me so long to get this out, especially when I knew exactly what I wanted to have happen in this chapter.)

 

* * *

 

 

Carmilla was studying Laura like the girl was an incomprehensible puzzle she was trying to work out how to solve... and failing. Laura didn't feel terribly sympathetic. Despite herself wanting to understand exactly who Carmilla and the BPRD really were and what they were actually trying to accomplish, she didn't think the vampire's lack of understanding was in any way _her_ fault. After all, she'd been completely up front about her goals and motivations since the first video. If Carmilla didn't get it by now, Laura didn't think anything she _said_ could change that.

Finally, Carmilla shook her head, evidently setting the matter aside for the time being. "Well, Creampuff, this is very sweet and all, but somehow I _don't_ think Mother is going to appreciate you trying to-"

"Why do you keep calling her that?" Laura interrupted. "I mean, with Bree, I get it. But if you haven't been 'reprogrammed' since the 1870s..."

Carmilla smiled, but it was thin and brittle, and didn't last long. "Oh, calling her 'Mother' is something that she hardwired into all of us, right from the beginning. Believe me, I stopped thinking of that woman as family a long time ago, but when I open my mouth to talk about her, the word 'Mother' comes out." She paused. "Not having any other name for her doesn't help, admittedly. I can't even say, 'No, _that_ isn't her name, _this_ is,' to try and break myself of the habit. You have _no idea_ how frustrating that can be."

"The sad truth is, past a certain point, her reprogramming sinks in so deeply that it becomes part of you, how you think and feel," Bree agreed with a sigh. "Even _we_ can't tell what's natural versus how we were made to be, in some cases."

"The girl I was raised as in the late 1600s never would have considered killing anyone, never mind having that be Plan A in dealing with her enemies," Carmilla continued. "And you don't think someone raised in an abbey would naturally be inclined to do what Pollyanna here did to Will, do you?"

"Oh, is that going to be my nickname, then?" Bree asked idly while Laura processed what they'd just told her. "I was wondering."

"For now, anyway." Carmilla shrugged, though her seemingly careless attitude was belied by her thoughtful expression. "You're kind of hard to pin down."

"Or you're as lazy as Mother always suggested you were, and don't feel like putting in the effort?"

"She said that, did she?" Carmilla shook her head in disgust, knowing her Mother's manipulative ways all too well. "Let me guess, she made sure to say that in front of Mattie and anyone else who might have known me, probably while also commending you for your accomplishments, to better ensure that you wouldn't have any real support in your new life except for her?"

"Of course." Bree grimaced. "It's easier to prevent any kind of rebellion from fomenting if she can keep the bonds of trust necessary for such a thing from ever existing. Yet another reason no one ever let me forget I was The Replacement."

"Except that you weren't," Carmilla countered. "From what you've said, you were turned in 1872, shortly after I was interred, right?" Bree nodded grudgingly. "You _did_ find where I was buried, even if it was too late to come save me, so you know that was nowhere _near_ Nonnberg Abbey. To not only know there was someone there who met her criteria for recruiting - whatever those are - but to manage to get you away from holy ground without causing enough of a fuss to attract all manner of attention...? She must have been scouting you for _quite_ a while beforehand. If I hadn't tried to escape with Elle, chances are she would have turned you, anyway. I just would have been around for it. She wanted you for _something_ , and given how much trouble you've evidently been giving her just to keep you under her control, it must be something important."

"Maybe." Bree's expression didn't so much as flicker, suggesting that wasn't anything she hadn't already thought of herself. "Given how patient she is, though, God only knows when she might even indirectly confirm that. In the meantime, no one is especially happy that I seem to have replaced you as her new 'favorite'. She indulges my religious beliefs, provided they don't interfere with any tasks she assigns me - and that does extend to more than just being bait every twenty years. Espionage, assassination... Because who'd ever suspect the sweet, innocent nineteen-year-old girl? I'm her first choice, and all the others know it. That doesn't exactly win me many friends."

"How far beyond Styria do her interests extend?" Carmilla asked, not touching the rest of Bree's statement. There really wasn't anything she could say to that, and they both knew it.

"I don't know." It wasn't really a surprise, given who they were talking about. "It seems more like a case by case basis. She wasn't willing to risk sending me too far until air travel became fast enough to ensure that I wouldn't be gone long. Even then, with rare exceptions, my assignments are confined to Europe." She clearly still didn't trust Carmilla, but she seemed relieved to actually have someone to talk to about such things, for once. Confessions to a priest were one thing, but they'd never really be able to _understand_ what living under Lilita Morgan's control was like. "She probably thought it was funny, sending the only one of her 'children' who _didn't_ like killing people to handle tasks like that. Another reason Mattie doesn't like me." To Laura, she explained, "Mattie's idea of a good time is going out and killing people. Needless to say, we don't exactly spend a lot of time socializing. That was one area I couldn't replace Mircalla in."

Laura... really had no idea what to say to any of that. "Um... right, well... While I'm glad you two are finding some common ground and almost starting to bond, maybe we could bring the conversation back to more current events? Given the whole frog monster attack thing, and all?"

"Certainly," Bree said agreeably. "Pretty sure I've said as much as I'm allowed to say, even to an estranged 'sibling'."

"Yeah, well, between Mother and this new threat, I think it's about time to get you out of the line of fire," Carmilla said, crossing her arms.

"I can't just leave," Laura objected. "Even aside from finding Betty and the others, or whatever that Tribunal thing that Bree mentioned that one time is-"

"You _still_ haven't read the Student Handbook?" Bree interjected.

"It's on my To-Do list," Laura assured her, not bothering to add that doing so would be dead last on said list. "Anyway, my Dad doesn't know about any of this. If I don't go back to Silas, how long would it be until one of your 'siblings' stopped by to pay him a visit?"

"I doubt they would. After all, why risk exposure, when you've already made it clear Mother has a much more convenient choice of hostage, whom she could just order to her side to ensure your cooperation?" Carmilla looked pointedly at Bree.

"She kind of already has," Bree admitted. "I can't leave town until this is all over with, one way or another."

"...we could take all three of you," Carmilla hesitantly suggested.

"...excuse me?"

"We could take you, the Cupcake, and her father back to our headquarters in America. There are ways to keep her from sensing you, and that would be far enough that she couldn't order you back. We might have to knock you out to get you out of town, but once you were, she wouldn't be able to compel you to return." Carmilla sighed. "Look, I don't want to have to fight you, but if you can't help, I'd really rather you not hinder, either."

"I can actually believe that." Bree was silent for a long moment, studying her. "Are you even authorized to make an offer like that?"

"Well, no one ever said that I _couldn't_ , and it would mean saving lives, so... yeah."

Bree didn't seem entirely convinced. Laura wasn't sure that she was, either, mainly because they hadn't managed to settle the question of whether or not Carmilla - and thus the BPRD as a whole - could even be trusted. If the answer was 'no', then going with them would be the _worst_ possible choice... and there were a _lot_ of bad choices to potentially be made, so that was saying something. There had to be some _good_ options, but she just couldn't think of them right then. "Maybe you should find out for sure, before we make any plans," Laura told her carefully. "I mean, I appreciate the offer, but from what you've said, you deciding on your own to take one of the girls away has never ended well." That last was said with an apologetic grimace, but she didn't take it back. The dreams she'd had while sedated were coming back to her clearer and clearer, no matter how badly she didn't want them, and they had included another visit from the girl in the nightdress. She hadn't really told Laura much, but what she _had_ said...

Carmilla winced. "Yeah... Really wish I could say you were wrong about that, Buttercup. There just wouldn't be any point in even raising the possibility to the higher ups if neither of you would go for it."

That was a fair point, Laura had to admit. "There's also not much point in packing up everything I want to keep if they say no, so maybe you should at least suggest it." She paused. "Honestly, though, I'd prefer it if they focused more rescuing the sacrifices, living or dead."

"Laura...?" It was Bree that spoke, but Laura could tell neither vampire especially liked what she was saying, even if they didn't disagree with the implications of her statement.

"That... Ogrdu Hem thing, or whatever it is. Lophiiformes. It devours their minds, remember? All the girls that have been sacrificed over the course of _however_ long this has been going on, they're still in there. I don't know why I'm only seeing that one girl. Maybe the others elected her spokeswoman, or something?"

"I suggest you not broadcast that you're seeing any of them," Bree advised. "A good part of the reason Mother let me loan you the Charm of Maugris was to prevent that very thing."

"Because she wanted to restrict my sources of information," Laura realized, and Bree nodded. "Well, I _already_ know not to go into the Light if it can be avoided, so she's not exactly telling me anything new." She still refused to even think about the other dreams. They _should_ have been better, since they hadn't had any blood or death in them, but... They hadn't been. At all. Drowning in blood had somehow actually been preferable.

"The girls we take talk about her sometimes," Bree revealed. A brief glance at Carmilla made it clear she was talking to both of them, making Laura reconsider what _else_ the girl had told her. She hadn't said just who she was, though she had mentioned a 'friend' that had proven to be anything but... "She tries to warn them. Some even do attempt to flee... though, they don't get very far."

Carmilla frowned. "Huh. I don't remember anything like that - though, since I never saw the girls again once my part was done, I suppose that's not a surprise."

"I'm sure that didn't help," Laura said, keeping her face as free of expression as she could. "But I'm apparently not the first girl to be on the receiving end of snack food-based nicknames from you, am I? She didn't say much about what had happened to her, specifically, beyond her father taking in a girl after a supposed carriage wreck." Carmilla went still. Laura carefully climbed out of bed, pleasantly surprised to find that, aside from a brief moment of lightheadedness caused by being vertical for so long, she felt just fine. She held up a hand a couple of inches above her own head, continuing, "She's a blonde girl, about yay tall, sounds sort of British, and has a mole-"

"-right here," Carmilla said with her, pointing to a spot on her left cheek. She looked like she'd been gut punched. Repeatedly. "...Elle."

Laura had been suspecting something like that, but still felt bad for her. Whatever the vampire may have been lying about, she was pretty sure that Carmilla hadn't been faking her feelings for that 'Elle' she'd mentioned trying to run away with before. It clearly took _**a lot**_ to break through the Dean's brainwashing, and to not only try running away, but to steal one of the sacrifices in the process...? "She never actually introduced herself," she offered, but her heart wasn't in it.

Carmilla dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed. "I... I knew she must have been sacrificed, but I really thought that would have been it. That _should_ have been it. She was _dead_. She should have been free to move on."

Bree got up and walked around the bed to stand next to Laura. "Then perhaps you should do as Laura suggested and get back to work on figuring out how to stop the sacrifice and save them, if that truly is your goal. In the meantime..." She turned to Laura. "...we should start the process of getting you checked out."

Even though she was probably supposed to be watching Laura, Carmilla didn't say anything as Bree lead her out of the room in search of a doctor. (She'd already been confirmed to otherwise be in good health - she would have been able to leave last night, if she'd been awake - so a very brief examination to make sure nothing had changed was all that would be needed on that front.) In turn, Laura was also silent, because she honestly had no idea what she even _could_ say to a woman who'd just found out the soul of her sort of ex-girlfriend was trapped in some kind of limbo state.

Actually finding the doctor took less time than the examination itself, and in short order, Laura found herself being handed a slip for prescription painkillers she was starting to doubt she'd even need. While she was signing herself out at the front desk, Bree got a call on her cell, and moved away a few steps to answer it. "Hello?" Her face became a blank mask. "Yes, Mother."

Laura nearly screwed up writing her own name, and concentrated as best as she could on the paperwork as she hurried through finishing up the rest of it, even as she kept an ear open for Bree's side of the conversation.

It didn't seem like she was missing anything, at least at first. Bree simply assuring the Dean that Laura was fine, then as quickly as she could get away with, changing the subject to what was being done in the wake of the frog monsters attack - much of which the Dean evidently wasn't willing to discuss while Bree was out in public - and asking how long it would be until their dorm room was habitable again. That was something Laura was rather curious about, herself - she didn't think there was much the school needed to take care of beyond replacing the window and repairing the doorframe from Bree's own less than subtle entrance, but she would freely admit that she wasn't exactly paying terribly close attention to her surroundings, at the time - so she quickly finished up the paperwork, thanked the nurse at the desk, and walked over to stand next to Bree.

By the time she got there, the conversation had clearly gotten more uncomfortable for Bree. "No... Yes, Mother, I... _No_ , that isn't... Honestly, I don't even think there's anything I _could_ tell Laura about that by this point... No, believe me, I know better than to try and hide things like that from you, Mother..." She was wincing, and had shifted the phone from her left hand to her right, so that she could raise the left up to her temple. "Please, you're hurting me... Of course I wouldn't tell you what to do, it just..."

Laura didn't really stop to think about what she did next, though she honestly wasn't sure if it would have changed anything if she had. She tucked the Sumerian book under her arm and removed the Charm of Maugris from her own wrist, then grabbed Bree's hand and promptly put it on her. The result was immediate: Bree inhaled sharply, shooting her a surprised look as whatever pressure had been pressing at her mind abruptly ceased. Laura looked back with what she hoped was a reassuring expression. She had to keep Bree from trying to give it back, at least for a little while. If the Dean hadn't been prying at her mind until just then, maybe she couldn't do that from a distance without some other means of locking onto her first, like the phone call? She had no idea, and knew better than to ask until _at least_ after Bree had hung up.

"Uh... Yes, I'm still here, Mother," Bree said into the phone, giving her head a good shake and trying to focus on the conversation she was already having as best as she was able. "Well, as you reminded me before, I'm not alone." She paused. "Well, if I had to guess, you scared her. After last night, I doubt it would take much." Another pause. "Yes, we'll be heading back to campus shortly, at least until she can pack for more than a day or two... Of course, once I'm sure she's safe." She hung up before the Dean could reply, then took a few seconds to try and center herself. "That was foolish," she finally remarked.

"Me giving you the bracelet, or you hanging up on the Dean?" Laura had to ask.

Bree considered that, then replied, "Yes."

Laura couldn't help but chuckle.

 

* * *

 

 

LaFontaine was frowning at the computer monitor in front of them when they heard the door to the lab open. It could have been anyone, really, but somehow, they just _knew_ who it had to be. Sure enough, barely a second had passed before Perry, voice somewhere between relief and exasperation, exclaimed, " _There_ you are! Have you been in here all night?"

"Hey, Perr." They typed in another string of commands. "And no, I went back to my room for a nap while I was waiting for the results on my samples." The computer beeped at them, and their eyebrows rose in bewilderment. "That can't be right," they muttered.

"What can't?" Perry asked, having walked over to them. The exhaustion in her voice caught their attention, and they looked up from the computer to study her. There were dark rings under Perry's eyes, and her hair was mildly unkempt. Knowing how seriously she took personal grooming - her navy blue blouse, dark slacks, and unzipped red overcoat were all meticulously pressed and smooth - that was practically disastrously messy, for her.

"Uh... Some of the RNA sequences." That could wait for a minute, though. "Have _you_ slept at all?"

"Hmm? Oh." She waved off their concern. "A little. I've been kind of busy, dealing with the aftermath of those... _things_... last night. The damage to Laura's room alone is going to take days to repair completely. A few other girls on the floor needed someone to talk to, as well. Things should be stable enough, for the time being, but I couldn't even think of getting any sleep until I knew you were okay."

LaF melted, just a little. "Why didn't you just c-" They had, by this point, pulled out their cell phone, and found that it wouldn't turn on. "Oh."

"You forgot to charge it again, didn't you?" Perry asked knowingly.

"Well, I've been a bit busy, the past few days," they defended, turning back to the computer. There had to be a way to analyze the numbers that would make them make some kind of sense...

"I know," Perry said, leaning down to see what they were working on, with one hand resting on their chair's armrest, the other on the back, and her chin on their shoulder. It was such a familiar pose that LaF didn't think anything of it, until Perry continued, "I've barely seen you at all the past few days." She hesitated, then in a much smaller and more fragile tone, added, "I was starting to think you were avoiding me."

They winced. They kind of _had_ been avoiding Perry, actually, though not entirely intentionally. They really _had_ been busy working with J.P. to try and uncover _exactly_ what the parasites they'd discovered were, what they were doing to the girls, and if there was any way to reverse it. (They knew the BPRD was likely doing the same, but unless they'd managed to sneak in a _lot_ more equipment than LaF thought, they would either be forced to make do with tech that wasn't sensitive or powerful enough to do what they needed it to, or wait until samples could be shipped somewhere that _could_ run the appropriate tests. LaFontaine may not have had access to the best of the equipment Silas had to offer, but they were a Junior, so they could use enough of it.) "Between trying to figure out the parasites and now the frog monsters, I've been pretty busy," they said. Perry sighed, her breath tickling LaF's cheek, and a rush of heat spread through their body. That was the other reason they'd been avoiding Perry, of course: they still had no idea how to react to her confession.

Perry was silent for a long moment, then quietly asked, "What did I say?"

"What?"

"When I was drunk," she clarified, though they both knew LaF had understood her just fine. "Either at the party or after, I said or did _something_ , didn't I? What was it?"

LaF hesitated, but they knew they'd only been fooling themselves by thinking that Perry wouldn't have been able to immediately see through any lies or attempted deflections. "It was after," they finally began slowly. "When I brought you back to your room. You were kind of... friendly?"

Perry began backing away, expression shifting to one of horror. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no..."

LaF stood up, work momentarily forgotten. "Lola, it's okay."

"It is _not_ okay!" Perry promptly disagreed. "God, no _wonder_ you've been avoiding me! How could I...?"

They quickly moved closer, grabbing her arms before she could even think of running out of the room. " _It's okay_ ," they repeated, locking eyes with her so she'd know they meant it. "I wasn't kidding about how busy I've been, which has kinda made it harder to find enough time to process things, but I meant it when I said that no matter what changes, you'll always be my best friend." Sorting out their own gender identity had been hard enough without bringing thoughts of attraction and romance into it, but they decided they were going to have to figure it out - and quickly - anyway, as the thought of at all hurting Perry's feelings was _utterly_ unacceptable.

Hope was tentatively trying to creep onto Perry's face, but her fear wasn't going away that easily. "You're not... weirded out? I mean, we've been friends since we were little kids. That's..."

"Come on, this is _me_ you're talking to," they said with a lopsided smile, and Perry's lips tugged upward in response. "And yeah, it's a lot to adjust to, but I'll figure it out, don't worry. And really, having someone - especially your best friend - tell you that they love you is never a bad thing."

Perry sniffled, looking _profoundly_ relieved. " _Thank you._ " She pulled them into a tight hug, only to freeze, apparently realizing that might not be appropriate.

Well, LaF wasn't having that, and hugged Perry back until she got it, and relaxed. They weren't going to automatically assume some kind of sexual meaning to her actions, after all. Though, knowing how she really felt, and having promised to try and figure out how _they_ felt about that, they thought they should at least try and work out if there was any chance of that happening. Like Perry had said, they'd been best friends since they were five, so they'd never really thought of Perry in terms of someone to be attracted to or not. Having Perry's warmth and familiar scent - spices mixed faintly with cleaning products - pressed up against them like that...

They had to admit, they kind of liked it.

They hadn't quite worked out enough to feel comfortable saying so, yet, so it was just as well that the computer chose that moment to beep loudly, killing the moment before it could really start. Perry released them, asking, "What _are_ you working on, anyway?"

"Danny was able to get me some blood samples from the whole frog monster thing last night," they said as they headed back to their chair and sat down, always more comfortable when they could retreat into science. They didn't even blink when Perry resumed her previous chin-on-shoulder position. "I've never seen _anything_ like these, before. Unfortunately, neither has the biology database, apparently. It's been having fits trying to make sense of them. That's why I'm still working on this the next day." They pulled up two images of DNA structures side by side. "Look at this," they said, pointing to the one on the left. "There's human DNA mixed in with the amphibian. I mean, I know Danny said something about how she thought they might have been able to assume human forms, but... Wow!"

Perry wasn't a biology student, let alone majoring in the field, but she had hung around LaF enough over the years to at least have a _vague_ idea of what they meant, most of the time. "Were they human first, and were... infected with this, do you think?"

"What, like some kind of were-frogs?" They grinned. " _Cool._ "

"LaFontaine," Perry sighed, a familiar note of 'would you _please_ focus?' in her tone.

They shook their head, losing the smile. "Right, sorry." Time and a place, or some such thing, right? "I can't tell from this, though if campus security got any images of their faces before they went all 'Croaked: Frog Monster from Hell' on us, they may be able to answer your question. Not sure they'll _want_ to, mind you."

"It won't hurt to ask politely." Perry reached forward and tapped a fingernail on the screen, indicating the image on the right. "This one looks different. It's... cleaner, maybe?"

"I'll make a biologist out of you, yet," LaF told her proudly, smiling briefly at her look of faint amusement. (They both knew no one and nothing would ever replace Perry's love of the culinary arts.) "And you're right. All the samples taken from the frog monsters look like the one on the left. This one, though..." They weren't smiling at all, now. "Without getting too technical, it's much more advanced. Not so much in the human part, but the rest...? All the junk DNA and RNA sequences that the frogs have aren't there, and what is present flows together much more smoothly. It's like, this is what the frogs were _supposed_ to be, like a prototype versus the final, perfected version."

Perry frowned. "But... if that didn't come from one of those... whatevers... where _did_ that come from?"

LaF hesitated, then admitted, "One of the BPRD agents was injured, and Danny hung onto the wipes they cleaned his wounds with. This..." They tapped the screen. "...is Agent Abe Sapien."

 

* * *

 

 

It was a lovely day out. That seemed almost... wrong, somehow.

Laura sat on a bench near the West Fountain, trying to relax. The sun was shining, the air was crisp and cool, and somewhere out there, frog monsters might well be plotting her death.

She sighed. The whole 'relaxing' thing really wasn't working out all that well.

She idly drummed her fingers on the Sumerian book that was laying on her lap as she thought. Packing hadn't taken long, as she'd already been set for a couple of days. She'd just needed a little more of what she already had. Bree hadn't liked the idea of Laura being out of her sight for that long - oddly, that she'd be with Danny didn't seem to help with that _at all_ \- but had admitted that it was probably the best alternative (since the Summer Society wasn't likely to want to house her for a few days, it wasn't like Danny could set her up anywhere else on campus, and Bree's own roomless status before she'd moved in with Laura proved there weren't exactly all that many open dorm rooms). "The only other thing I could suggest would be to take you home with me, which, well, would be a bad idea for more reasons than I want to go into," she'd said reluctantly.

Laura hadn't quite managed to stop a shudder at the thought of sleeping a few doors down from the Dean herself.

Bree didn't like her going off on her own, but she'd been summoned to her Mother's side, and Laura had promised to stay on campus until Danny, who was off securing a car to transport Laura and her bags to her apartment, came to get her. It was barely into the afternoon on a Sunday, so there was no one and nothing else around, unless one counted the fish swimming contentedly in the fountain. Given that Danny had mumbled something earlier about the frog monsters being able to assume human form - she'd apparently given LaF some samples to analyze, and Laura had made a mental note to check in with them later, to see how that was coming - _and_ vampires looked like regular people, she wouldn't have really felt safe around a crowd of strangers, just then. She also didn't want to get any of her fellow students caught in the crossfire. They really needed to figure something out, she thought. She didn't like the idea of having to live like that for any longer than she had to. Distrusting _everyone_ , like that...

She had no idea how people could stand living that way all the time.

She also hadn't forgotten her resolution to take a more active role in the investigation. Interviewing the baron hadn't been quite as helpful as she'd hoped, which might well mean she wouldn't have much choice but to see what answers she could get from Mayor Belmonde. Even snooping about her office when she wasn't there seemed like _such_ a bad idea, but she honestly had no idea what else she could do.

She perked up at the sound of footsteps behind her. It was clearly someone with a lengthy stride, indicating someone rather tall. A quick check of her phone said that she'd been there for _just_ long enough for Danny to find a car she could borrow. She smiled. "You didn't need to rush, Danny. I was fine here, promise."

"I'm fairly certain Miss Lawrence is doing no such thing," a voice that definitely did _not_ belong to Danny replied, and Laura felt her smile slip away, as well as the blood draining from her face, and she was fairly certain her heart ripped out about a thousand beats in the space of one point five seconds as she realized something:

At the otherwise deserted fountain, Lilita Morgan was standing _right behind her_.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 **Author's Note:** Oh, did you think you knew how this story was going to play out? Let's see about that, shall we? ;)

 

* * *

 

Laura honestly had no idea what to do.

This really wasn't a scenario she'd envisioned. Oh, she'd known the Dean wanted her for a sacrifice, which was really the only reason Bree was being allowed to get away with as much as she was in terms of protecting her. But that had been more of an abstract concern; as she'd understood it, someone - whom that someone was, she still hadn't figured out - was supposed to lure her into some kind of trap and bring her to be infected with the parasites. Of course, that was standard operating procedure because the past girls hadn't known what was going on, and the Dean had wanted to be discreet, to avoid attracting attention. Laura, however, _knew_ about the kidnappings and sacrifices - and, worse, she'd _already_ told people about it. The damage was already done, so why _not_ abandon all pretense and come and take her personally?

In retrospect, maybe she _should_ have just let the BPRD take over the investigation. She could have interviewed them afterward to get all the information she needed to finish up her journalism project, right?

Too late, now. Possibly for good.

She twisted around to keep an eye on the Dean, but didn't get up. She wouldn't get far if she tried to run - she'd _seen_ how fast Bree was, and she was sure that the Dean would, if anything, only be faster - and, honestly, she wasn't sure she trusted her legs to support her, right then. Collapsing into a terrified heap wouldn't exactly do her any good. "Uh, D-Dean Morgan," she began nervously, struggling to summon up a smile. She couldn't quite manage it, and the result of her efforts probably wasn't pretty. She gave up trying in short order. "Is, um, is there something I can do for you?" She knew it almost certainly wasn't true, but sheer desperation for another way out of her current situation had her try, "Is there some paperwork I need to sign about the damage to my room, or, well, myself?" Because if Bree getting some help from the Alchemy department for her injuries counted as utilizing school resources, _maybe_ that was possible? She was grasping at straws and she knew it, but she had to at least try.

The Dean walked around the bench, stopping at the other end of it. Laura hardly felt safe - she'd need a shark cage and maybe one of those clear plastic shields that they used on Mythbusters before she'd could even begin to _consider_ entertaining _that_ idea - but she didn't have to twist around to keep the woman in sight. (It was possible the Dean had minions nearby, of course, but it was hardly like she'd _need_ anyone else to deal with Laura, so she wasn't about to worry about that.) Her spine appreciated that, if nothing else. "Miss Hollis, kindly do not insult my intelligence," the Dean replied, eyeing her coolly.

"I-I'm sorry?" she stammered out.

"About a great many things, I'm certain." The Dean shook her head. "Sabrina was very careful not to actually say as much, but I know that you are at least partially aware of my role in current events on this campus. Do not pretend otherwise."

"She didn't tell me anything," Laura blurted out before she could think better of it. Bree had given her back the Charm of Maugris before they'd even left the hospital, though, so Laura needed to make sure the Dean didn't go digging into her mind again. Not only was she keeping secrets from her 'Mother' - something it had been made clear that the Dean did _not_ view as acceptable for her 'children' to be doing - but Laura had seen firsthand how painful that could be for Bree even from a distance. Doing so face-to-face would no doubt be much worse. "If you didn't have her so scared of you that I started wondering why a hundred-something-year-old badass vampire was so afraid of making the Dean of Students angry with her..."

The Dean eyed her for a long moment - her insides already felt like they'd been turned into jelly, and this wasn't helping that any - then inclined her head slightly, acknowledging the point. "Perhaps, perhaps not. That is ultimately irrelevant. You were warned about how dimly disruptions to this school are viewed - twice, in fact, which is at least one more warning than I typically give someone."

Laura actually had no trouble believing that the Dean would only warn most of her victims once, if at all. "I really _haven't_ been disrupting the school, though, have I? I mean, having actual information about what's been going on since the BPRD arrived would only help people stay calm, wouldn't it?" Everything she'd reported on had been in the past, after all, aside from the missing girls - and all she'd done there was clarify what was making them act so oddly, and confirm that five girls were taken every twenty years. Since she was slated to be the fifth, that actually meant the rest of the student body _didn't_ have to worry if the BPRD failed to stop the sacrifice in time, didn't it? "The less afraid they are, the less chance of riots or them doing anything else foolish, right?"

"Debatable. Regardless, in appreciation for your efforts in calming recent tensions on campus, I've deferred to Sabrina's wishes and left you alone."

"...thanks?"

"However, that cannot continue. The time of the sacrifice is swiftly approaching, so I cannot afford to let you keep flailing blindly about. In your blundering, you might unwittingly interfere in matters you know little to nothing about, and I will not permit that."

Laura was shaking. She wasn't sure how to stop it, she but tried to keep the fear from her voice as best she could. If nothing else, she could at least maintain a semblance of dignity. "If I just disappear, everyone's going to know why," she pointed out. Whether or not they'd be able to _do_ anything was another matter.

"I would imagine so, which is another reason I've held off on doing anything about you. That is no longer a feasible option, though. Yet, before I decide what to do with you, there is something I must know."

There was? "And what would that be?" She _just_ managed to keep her voice steady as she asked that.

The Dean closed the distance between them in two powerful strides. Laura nearly gave into the temptation to scramble up and bolt for safety - despite _knowing_ she wouldn't be able to escape - but before she could do anything foolish, the Dean reached out and took hold of her chin, holding her head in place. "What is it about you that keeps inspiring my children toward rebellion?"

The Dean's grip wasn't painful, though Laura was fully aware that could change at any moment. The woman could easily tear her jaw clean off, if she felt like it... and might, for all Laura knew, if she didn't like her answer. The only thing she could think of to say, though, was, "...children?" There was Bree, of course, but why use the plural if it was just her? She wasn't supposed to even _know_ about Carmilla... unless Bree was right, and she _had_ been assigned to infiltrate the BPRD from the very beginning. But if that _was_ the case, then Carmilla was _still_ doing what she'd been told to. Or... Wait. Was _that_ why she hadn't been taken, yet? Because whoever had been ordered to reel her in wasn't doing what they were _supposed_ to do? (The only person she knew who'd raised any kind of suspicion _at all_ was Perry, and Laura _had_ encouraged her feelings for LaFontaine, even tried to help things along... but she still couldn't quite believe Perry could be involved in the sacrifices. Though... would she have ever suspected that of Bree, if she hadn't openly admitted it?) The Dean wasn't saying anything, and her expression didn't so much as flicker. Laura, realizing that the question might have been intended as a trap, to trick her into revealing something that could get Bree into trouble - which suggested that maybe Carmilla _wasn't_ acting as a mole, but the only way to confirm that would be to ask and give the secret away - tried to force herself to think. Unfortunately, as she did so, her mouth went into autopilot, saying, "Well, maybe you'd know, if you actually _cared_ about them."

The Dean's expression hadn't exactly been warm to start with, but it somehow cooled even further. "Do not presume that you know how I do or do not feel about my children, Miss Hollis." At least her grip didn't tighten any.

That that didn't happen suggested that any indignation she might be displaying was feigned. Laura managed to keep from calling her on that, even while she made a conscious decision to try and keep it in mind. "I care about people. That's why I've been trying to find the missing girls, and it's why I've put myself at risk for Bree's sake. You've been watching my videos, and Bree's filled you in on what's been going on that I haven't broadcast, so you _know_ I'm not doing anything else that could be making a difference there." She didn't actually say anything about how, if the Dean's "love" for her children was genuine, someone coming along and freely offering them the real thing wouldn't have been so disruptive to their mental conditioning... but she didn't think she _needed_ to. It was rather obvious, to her.

The Dean continued to stare into her eyes, gaze seeming to drill down into her core. Laura was too afraid - and maybe a little too honest - to do anything but stare right back. To her amazement, after a subjective eternity (that was probably not even an entire minute) the Dean let her go and took a step back. "Hmm. Interesting. Well, if nothing else, at least I can be certain you're not working with one of the enemy factions."

Too stunned by her continued survival to think of what to do next, Laura could only blurt out, "'One of'?"

"I've walked this world for a _**very**_ long time, Miss Hollis. One accumulates any number of enemies over the millennia."

"I'll... have to take your word for that." It was gradually sinking in that she wasn't being killed, or kidnapped, or even threatened, really. Oh, she was all too aware that any or all of those things _could_ still happen, but they hadn't, yet. "Um... N-Not that I'm complaining - because I'm really, _really_ not - but, ah, why am I still sitting here, alive, with my mind intact?"

The Dean's expression was grave - though, thankfully, without involving any literal ones. "As you pointed out yourself, I cannot simply make you disappear without creating complications that could imperil the success of my current endeavor. And yet, permitting you to simply continue on as you have been could cause just as many problems. As such, there is only one alternative: loath as I am to do so, I'm going to have to explain to you _exactly_ what you've managed to get yourself involved in."

It took a couple of seconds for Laura to realize what she'd just said. "...seriously?" she asked, eyebrows rising in incredulity.

"I assure you, Miss Hollis, this is not a subject I would joke about. Secrecy is one of the key elements that has allowed me to continue on as I have for so long. That a mortal child has endangered that to such a degree that I'm forced to take her into my confidence... Frankly, I'm not certain if I should call that embarrassing or appalling."

Laura was pretty sure there was no way to respond to that statement that would go well for her. Instead, she simply replied, "Okay. I'm listening." She would have loved to be able to record the conversation she was about to have, but hadn't thought to bring her digital recorder with her. She'd just have to pay very close attention to what she was told, then. (That likely wouldn't be a problem; as keyed up as she was right then, she was taking in _every detail_ of what was going on around her.)

"You had best be." The Dean shook her head. "Though, if you persist in maintaining your naive beliefs about good and evil, and which category I fall under, continuing on will just be wasting both of our time. This is not a black and white situation."

"Noted." She tried to restrain herself, but couldn't help but add, "No one who torments someone the way you have Bree would fall under 'good', though."

The Dean gave her a level stare for several long seconds, then continued, seemingly ignoring her. "Sabrina informed me that the BPRD translated the entry in the Codex about Lophiiformes; you know that it requires five sacrifices every twenty years to keep her pacified, and that there is no known way to kill her."

Her? "Yes, they did," Laura agreed. "But if it - or she? - is here, or somewhere nearby, she's obviously been there for a long time, and there aren't any local legends about anything that sounds even remotely like that... and we have legends or myths about _everything_ in this part of the world."

"That is not accidental. There are no stories because I've made certain to eliminate any that sprung up." And anyone who knew them, no doubt. "If no one was even aware that she existed, no one would be tempted to seek her out in foolish efforts to gain wealth or power."

"So you could keep it all for yourself?"

"Miss Hollis..." the Dean said warningly.

Right, right. She was supposed to be approaching this with an open mind, wasn't she? Or at least not interpreting what the Dean said however she wanted. Still, though... "Hey, if you're as old as I've heard implied, and have treated all of your 'children' the way you have Bree and-" She just barely stopped herself from mentioning Carmilla. "...well, I _presume_ you did the same to Will, which may have been why he was such a jerk. Anyway, even if none of them killed you, you'd have some scars by now, otherwise. To say nothing of all of those enemies you mentioned earlier."

The Dean eyed her appraisingly, and something that might have been approval glinted in her eyes. "So you _are_ capable of actually stopping and using your brain, instead of just stumbling blindly down your chosen path. Good. Yes, I wound up with a connection to Lophiiformes before I realized what was happening; that was her way of ensuring I didn't simply leave and forget about her, and that I would survive to continue bringing her the tributes she requested. What you do not seem to understand, Miss Hollis, is that, if those five lives are not offered up, she will tear her way free of her confinement and go on a rampage, devouring all those she finds appealing, and slaughtering the rest, until satisfied. Thousands would die, if not hundreds of thousands. Would you decide who lives and who dies? Is Miss Spielsdorf worth that much? The three others? Yourself? When the grief-stricken loved ones of all those lost came searching for answers, would you assure them that it was alright, as you'd saved your roommate?"

Laura felt like she'd been kicked in the stomach. "You don't... know that..."

"I do," the Dean disagreed. "She showed me, in graphic detail, precisely what she would do if I did not accede to her demands. Did you think her past victims would be able to reach out from within their confinement if she could not do so herself?" Which did make sense, Laura had to admit. "So I agreed. I will not pretend to have done so out of purely altruistic intent, as she made it clear I would have been one of her first victims. Nevertheless, five lives every twenty years seems a small price to pay to prevent an unkillable titan from roaming the countryside."

Laura... had no idea what to say. She still didn't think _anyone_ should be sacrificed to some kind of eldritch creature, but... Well, if the Dean was being honest - and the entry about Lophiiformes in the book agreed with her on the creature's motivations - then how could she condemn who knew how many thousands of innocents to the same fate? To be killed, just because of some ancient monstrosity's whim? Obviously, she couldn't, but where did that leave her? "So you just... keep feeding girls to that thing," she finally managed to say. "Over and over and over. Why not just, like, shove a nuke down its throat and run?"

"I have considered that," the Dean told her. She sighed and sat down (Laura fought down an urge to cringe away from her; she was already at the other end of the bench, she didn't need to embarrass herself by falling to the ground). Laura did appreciate that she wasn't looming over her, anymore. "On occasion, over the millenia, word of the creature's existence would 'accidentally' be leaked to certain parties, luring them into efforts to destroy her. It quickly became apparent that there was no level of mortal magic that could kill her, and any immortal 'gods' wouldn't care if she got free or not. I've kept an eye on mortal weapon technology as it's progressed, waiting to see if that - or some combination of science and sorcery - might be the answer. I hardly wish to spend the rest of eternity continuing on as I have, after all. When I first learned of their existence, nuclear weapons did seem like a promising possibility, and even more so when they began becoming increasingly powerful. That does not mean I could easily get my hands on one, and Lophiiformes does not physically devour the sacrifices, so approaching it with something unfamiliar would be viewed with suspicion, particularly if I tried to get her to eat it. She is capable of shielding herself from most any attack, so simply throwing an armed bomb at her would likely not be terribly effective. Chemical weapons, biological weapons, alchemical weapons... Every avenue of attack is being investigated, disguised as ordinary college research programs."

"And the mind-eating whatever-it-is believes that you're happy continuing to serve it in exchange for power?" Laura asked. She couldn't help but be a little skeptical of that one point, at least.

"Oh, I long ago learned how to shield my thoughts from her," the Dean replied evenly. "I also keep my interactions with her to a minimum, to prevent her from discovering the truth. As for those I send as intermediaries... They're _made_ to think what she expects to see."

Laura's jaw dropped. "Wait, are you-? You're seriously going to sit there and claim that twisting someone as kind and pure as Bree into your weapon is the _right thing to do_?"

"Sabrina is not suited to be one of those who interacts with Lophiiformes. Keeping her distracted and otherwise occupied so that she doesn't cause problems until she's needed is a necessity."

"Needed for what?"

"That is a discussion for another day." She paused. "Should you live so long."

Laura's pulse, which had gradually been slowing as the conversation went on, abruptly spiked again. "You know, if you give me a heart attack now, I'm pretty sure you won't be able to feed me to your monster later," she snapped before she could think better of it. She winced when she realized what she'd just done, but the expected retaliation never came. Instead, the Dean looked... faintly amused?

"True enough," she conceded. "Though, that would be one natural cause of death that would likely be accepted, given the amount of stress you've been under."

Depressingly, that was probably true. It was pretty clear they were simply not going to agree on the issue of mind control - the Dean didn't even seem to realize why that might be a bad thing - so Laura decided a change of subject would be a good idea, for the time being. "Speaking of stress," she began. "Those frog men, or whatever they were...?"

"They are indeed tied into this, more closely than even they are aware. Not to Lophiiformes directly, but even she is only a small part of the true threat. As you do not yet know enough to appreciate the scope of that threat, and telling you that now would leave you unable to focus on anything else, we shall take this one step at a time. Your research into the Oannes Club on campus lead you to learn about the Society they split off from, yes?" At Laura's nod, she continued, "Contrary to popular opinion, the Oannes Society did not simply vanish. They do not openly broadcast their affiliation, hold their meetings behind closed doors, but they remain as they ever were. Some prolong their lives through unnatural means, others passed their beliefs on to their children. Not all of their children agreed with those beliefs; two such 'defectors' came to Silas shortly after it was established, bringing as much research and materials with them as they could get away with."

"Which explains how Inez got here," Laura realized.

"Indeed. I believe they intended to try and reverse what had been done to her, but never quite managed it. As long as their efforts didn't interfere with what I required of them, it mattered little to me what they spent their free time doing." At least she hadn't claimed to have been trying to help Inez because it was the right thing to do; Laura never would have believed that. "The 'frog men', as you call them, are precisely that: humans who have been changed, largely against their will. The Society mean to transform humanity into a new 'final' race of man, and creatures such as the one that attacked you are flawed attempts to recreate their only success. I don't know the exact date, but shortly before the American Civil War began, they managed to retrieve a jellyfish-like deity from an underwater ruin."

"Wait, it _was_ an actual god?" Laura interjected.

"So all sources who knew anything about it claimed." The Dean studied her. "You _were_ aware of that discovery, then?"

Laura hesitated, then admitted, "Yes. I found a journal in the Library..."

"Ah, that." The Dean didn't look surprised, clearly knowing which book Laura was talking about. "It was written by Langdon Everett Caul, a scientist and businessman. The reason it stops so abruptly is that when the Society attempted to perform an arcane ritual on the creature - what they were hoping to achieve, I'm not certain - it was released and merged with Caul, changing him into an _ichthyo sapien_."

"And that's, what, a fish... man...?" She trailed off, instinctively trying to fight off the conclusion her mind was trying to bring her to.

"Essentially. They believed him to be Oannes reborn, and sealed the developing icthyo sapien's body in a tube of water in their hidden laboratory beneath a Washington, D.C.. hospital until such time as he was fully formed. The ongoing war, however, hampered their efforts, as did the Reconstruction efforts that followed. I presume the President's assassination resulted in simply too much scrutiny being placed upon those in the capital, as the Society abandoned the site - and Caul - leaving only a note with his new species designation and the date next to the tube to offer any kind of explanation."

American history wasn't exactly Laura's strong suit - she'd never even left her home town, and her schools naturally focused more on European history - but even she knew who the President of the United States had been during their Civil War: Abraham Lincoln. The war had ended in 1865, she thought, but she couldn't remember the exact date, and _that_ wasn't what she was focusing on.

_Ichthyo Sapien... Abraham Lincoln..._

_Abraham... Sapien?_

"But... But he joined the BPRD in Nineteen Seventy-Eight!" Laura sputtered.

"I know," the Dean said calmly, unruffled by Laura's outburst. "Had he not been discovered when he was, and awoken by the BPRD, he may well have slumbered there indefinitely."

"Well, even if he is... or was... He clearly doesn't remember who he used to be." Was she rationalizing? Grasping at straws? She didn't think so... and a few moments' thought offered up an entirely plausible idea. "Given what he went through - I mean, _changing species_ and all - his brain must have been altered to adjust to his new body, right? Maybe his memories of that life are just... gone?"

"That would seem likely," the Dean agreed. Before Laura could calm down too much, though, she continued, "However, from what I understand, 'Abraham Sapien' didn't _learn_ how to speak, read and the like, he _remembered_ how to. And while skills like that are controlled by different parts of the brain than where personal memories are stored, who is to say he will not also remember those, if given sufficient prompting?"

"Even if he did, the memories and morals he's formed as Abe wouldn't just go away," Laura argued.

"Even if they didn't, who is to say he would consider them paramount?" The Dean shook her head. "No. Given the Society's efforts to destabilize my efforts here and free the Ogdru Hem, I cannot afford to take that chance... and neither can you."

Laura wasn't sure she believed that - Abe had _really_ seemed like a good person (though she would admit their brief meeting wasn't exactly enough to give her a full sense of him; she _had_ researched everything she could about the BPRD team inbetween schoolwork and trying to figure out what was going on with the missing girls), and she didn't think something like that would just go away - but, if pressed, had to admit she didn't feel comfortable blindly taking it for granted, given even what little she knew about what was at stake. "Why would they try to kill me?" she asked instead. "And why try to steal the book?" It wasn't like the Dean hadn't noticed the book she was holding - or the Codex, as she'd called it - so Laura didn't see much of a problem with drawing attention back to it.

"Who can say? Perhaps they feared you would uncover evidence of them in the course of your investigation," the Dean offered. "Or they intended to eliminate the only unguarded sacrifice, in the hopes that I would not be able to find another in time, and Lophiiformes would be fully roused from her slumber and break free to go on a rampage. As for the book, if they knew anything of it, they may well have hoped it would lead them to the location of other, unguarded Ogdru Hem."

Laura wasn't sure she believed the Dean wouldn't have an idea _exactly_ what the attack had been about and was only able to suggest possibilities - her earlier words suggested she had one or more sources of information into the _current_ activities of the Oannes Society, as well as its historical actions - but absolutely nothing in her expression even hinted at such knowledge. She could have had a full membership roster and known what each one of them had for breakfast that morning, and Laura wouldn't have been able to tell from looking at her. "You must be _**hell**_ to play poker with," she said randomly.

The Dean's lips actually twitched a few times. "I prefer chess," she replied.

That being something else that Bree had already told her. "I'm not really much of a chess player," Laura said. She paused, then deadpanned, "You may have noticed."

The Dean didn't laugh, but Laura could briefly see it in her eyes. "That would be putting it mildly."

"Right." She shook her head. "How did they even know I _had_ the book, though? I never actually mentioned it in my videos." Bree's warning had kept her from doing so, at first, and there really hadn't been any time to film a new update since her return.

"A much better question." There was a slight note of approval in her voice, which Laura wasn't sure how to react to. "Did you perhaps mention something you shouldn't have while meeting with Baron Vordenberg?" At Laura's surprised reaction, she sighed. "Really, Miss Hollis. Between your meddlesome actions and you being the only unsecured sacrifice, did you think I wouldn't be watching to make sure you didn't try leaving town?"

"Ah." The Baron did technically live outside of the town, didn't he? "Well, I didn't tell him about it, either. I was just looking to get more information, aside from his family's story, which, well, I have yet to get a chance to fact check."

"I've no doubt he left a great deal out of that story, as well," the Dean ground out, eyes darkening.

Laura swallowed hard, mostly out of reflex, as that was _not_ an enjoyable expression to have aimed even remotely in her direction. She had no idea how Bree and the others could handle that sort of thing all the time. "Well, he did say it was just a story, and didn't really go into detail. He was just using it to explain why he didn't quite trust Hellboy."

"I see." She was silent for a long moment. "I find the so-called 'baron' to be a spineless, sniveling coward, but he and I can agree on that one point, at least."

"Oh, come on," Laura said, feeling mildly exasperated. "Don't tell me _you_ distrust him because he's a demon, too."

"Not precisely. We'll get to that shortly. Do you know why you were able to reveal the entry for Lophiiformes within the Codex?"

"Because I bled on it?" Not that she had intended to, or was clear why _that_ had worked.

"Yes. But the BPRD tried to repeat your actions to reveal more hidden text, without success. Do you know why?"

"Maybe they didn't use human blood?" She wanted to believe that was the only reason. Some part of her knew better, though. It had from the first moment the unfamiliar words had begun spreading across the page from where her blood had spilled.

"Perhaps, though that would not have mattered, given the nature of the veil." She unceremoniously reached out and plucked the book from Laura's grasp, placing it on her own lap and opening it even as Laura gaped at the abrupt action. The Dean flipped through the pages like she was looking for something... and knew exactly where to find it.

"You've read that book before," Laura realized.

"It did not end up in the subbasement of the Silas Library by accident, Miss Hollis."

"There are pages missing," Laura said, an _almost_ accusing tone in her voice.

Fortunately for her, the Dean didn't react to it. "Are there?" she asked, unconcerned. "It is a very old book, and passed through many, _many_ hands before I found it." Again, her poker face made it impossible to tell if the pages had already been missing when she got it, or if she had removed them herself. "In any event, you were able to reveal the entry because it was _your_ blood. Only those connected in some way to the subject matter of the Codex can dispel the magic concealing the hidden entries. It is fortunate for you that you had the book open to that specific page at the time."

"So... I could potentially reveal _all_ the hidden text in the book?"

"You could. If you were willing to earn it. To bleed for it. Knowledge is power, Miss Hollis, and so doesn't come for free. The blood pays that fee, proves you mean it."

Laura found it vaguely worrying that she not only understood that, but found it made sense to her. "I don't suppose you'd tell me if there was anything else hidden in there that might be relevant?" she asked rhetorically. She was pretty sure the answer to that was going to be-

"What have you been dreaming about?"

...okay, _that_ wasn't what she'd thought the Dean would say. "What?"

"I know why Sabrina wanted to give you the Charm of Maugris, remember? I also know there have been times when you weren't able to wear it while asleep, and that even the sedatives at the hospital wouldn't have been able to keep you from dreaming. What did you see?"

Why was she asking about that? Fighting down a growing agitation as best she could, Laura began, "Well, there's this girl-"

"Not that," the Dean interrupted. "I'm quite aware of the warnings the past sacrifices attempt to give the newer ones. I'm also aware that you've been dreaming about more than that. So. Why don't you tell me what else you've been dreaming about?" It wasn't really a request.

The memory of those dreams was rising, and Laura could feel her gorge rising with it. Swallowing the latter as best she could - the memories, however, refused to stay buried, no matter how hard she tried - she bristled, "Why? If my blood can unlock the entry for that thing because I'm supposed to be fed to it, what does it matter-?"

"Miss Hollis." The glare she was getting suggested she was treading on thin ice.

Laura's tenuous hold on her temper snapped. " _You want to know what I see in my dreams?_ " She was on her feet before she realized it, fists clenched. "I see massive golden cocoons out in the icy void, shaking and splintering apart! I see the Great Beast free! I see blood and death on a scale I can't even comprehend! I see humanity dying, because _we have to die so it - so THEY - can be free!_ _ **I see the world burning to ashes! They hate! Us, the Earth, everything everywhere!**_ " She was screaming by this point, and didn't even notice. " _ **They hate it, and it needs to be destroyed! THEY WANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING! THAT'S WHAT I SEE!**_ "

The Dean waited until she was finished, then commented, "The Ogrdu Jahad."

Laura was so agitated, she almost didn't hear her. Even then, it took a few seconds for the words to sink in. "The what?" she snapped, still breathing heavily.

"The Ogdru Jahad," the Dean repeated calmly. "The Great Beast, as you call them. That's what you've been seeing. The Beast is one of their aliases. They are the Seven Who Are One, the Dragon of Revelation. Nunn-Jahad, Adad-Jahad, Amon-Jahad, Irra-Jahad, Beuu-Jahad, Nergal-Jahad, and Namrat-Jahad. The Ogdru Jahad are serpentine/crustacean entities which once resided on, and presided over, Earth. They are pitiless, chaotic, bent on destruction and subjugation and often so horrific in appearance that the mere sight of one of them sometimes induced madness. As you might imagine, it took me centuries to learn anything of them."

Laura struggled to calm down enough to better focus on the conversation. "Ogdru _Jahad_? I thought... I mean, Lophiiformes..."

"The Ogdru Hem are their children," the Dean told her. "All three hundred and sixty-nine of them."

Laura sat back down with a thump, choking out, "Three _hundred_...?"

"And sixty-nine, yes," the Dean confirmed. "As it was relayed to me, in the beginning of time, God created an order of spirits. Of these, many of the greater spirits were sent to newborn Earth to oversee it as Watchers. After a time, one Watcher named Anum "dared to take fire from the air, and with it, fashioned out of mud the Dragon". The Ogdru Jahad is thus made up of the four classical elements. The other Watchers set their seals on the Ogdru Jahad and yet the entities did not come to life until nightfall. By then, the awakened Ogdru Jahad were instilled with purpose and function as they instantly give birth to the Ogdru Hem, who become Earth's first lifeforms. As much of this information can be considered anecdotal at best, I have no idea if this means they predated the dinosaurs, or that those who conveyed the story to me simply didn't know about them, and thus only _thought_ the Ogdru Hem came first. Personally, I suspect the latter.

In any event, the Watchers, upon seeing the creation of these abominations, went to war with them. The Ogdru Hem were eventually all disposed of, with many of them barely clinging to existence in some fashion, with the Ogdru Jahad sealed by their creator in a prison of crystal and placed in the heart of the abyss. The other Watchers, however, turn on Anum and destroyed him. After that, God looked down in fury on what had happened, and exacted His retribution on the Watchers for botching their task: some were cast down into the pit, while others were stranded on Earth to breed monsters. Eventually, lesser spirits were given form by God and took up residence on Earth as the first men, the Golden People of Hyperborea."

"Wait... Hyperborea was a real thing?" Laura interjected, fascinated with the story despite herself.

"It was," the Dean confirmed, seemingly untroubled by the interruption. "Once. As it turned out, Anum's right hand survived and was found by the Hyperboreans. It became a holy relic to them, and was attached to a great statue at the behest of their king Thoth. Holding three Watchers captive in a secret garden, Thoth learned the inner workings of the universe and only shared a small fraction of his knowledge to the people. Ten thousand years later, Hyperborea's downfall began when Hecate used Thoth to find the Watchers, drain them of their blood, and reveal all their secrets to the people. Though Thoth cursed Hecate in her serpentine form, her actions led to Hyperboria's corruption as they begin to worship the Black Goddess, one of many epitaphs that Hecate came to be called, and commit atrocities in her name. These actions led to the statue coming to life and slaughtering the many Hyperboreans before finally hurling itself over a cliff. The Ice Age then enabled the raise of humanity, the second race, while the Hyperboreans were divided into two groups... though 'ice age' is something of a misnomer, in this context. The _Quaternary glaciation_ , also known as the _Pleistocene glaciation_ or the _current ice age_ , is a series of glacial events separated by interglacial events during the Quaternary period from two-point-five-eight million years ago to present. During this period, ice sheets expanded, notably from out of Antarctica and Greenland, and fluctuating ice sheets occurred elsewhere - for example, the Laurentide ice sheet."

Laura blinked. "Really?" she asked incredulously. "You're slipping a _geology lesson_ into the middle of all this?"

"This _is_ a college, Miss Hollis. As for the Hyperboreans, while one of the two branches gave their successors knowledge before departing, those among the other continued to worship Hecate and took refuge underground, ultimately becoming extinct at the hands of their corrupted slaves in their attempt to reclaim their former glory. Anum's hand eventually was recovered and, supposedly, somehow ended up in Hell." Even as she spoke, she drew a sharp line across her left palm with one of her nails, squeezing her fist over the book. Blood dripped from it onto the page. As with Laura's blood, it seemed to soak it up like a sponge, and text began appearing, as well as a large illustration. "As the hand is the key to freeing the Ogdru Jahad from their prison, which would usher in a new and final race of men, it came to be known as " _the Right Hand of Doom_ "." She held up the book, showing Laura some text she couldn't read and a familiar picture of an oversized hand with four fingers.

Familiar because it was attached to Hellboy's arm.

For a long moment, Laura honestly didn't know what to say. Hellboy had only been an infant when he'd come to Earth, she was certain of that much, if nothing else. Why _had_ an infant been sent... No, she realized. He _hadn't_ been sent, had he? He'd been _summoned_. "Then... The Nazis...?"

The Dean nodded grimly. "Had I known what Rasputin intended, I would have made certain to keep him from coming to that fool Hitler's attention. Once I learned of what he'd done, I made certain to track him down and deal with him. By then, however, the child was out of my reach."

"He's not evil!" Laura insisted, a small voice in the back of her mind wondering if she was trying to convince _herself_ of that as much as she was the Dean. "You've met him, you _know_ he isn't."

"His intentions are irrelevant," the Dean stated flatly. "The fact remains, the demon who may well have been given that hand to usher in the end of humanity and the freedom of the Ogdru Jahad has involved himself in this situation. There are those who believe that once humanity has been destroyed, the three hundred and sixty-nine Ogdru Hem will rise up from their prisons, free the Ogdru Jahad and burn the Earth to ashes, and nothing I've learned disagrees with that. Others believe that the Ogdru Jahad will create a new, perfect world out of the ashes of the old one, where the final race of man will live."

"They won't," Laura asserted, hugging herself in an effort not to start shaking again. "Believe me, there won't be a _planet_ left after they get through with it, let alone one on which some kind of paradise could spring up."

"Then, perhaps, you begin to see why even one such as I would wish to keep Lophiiformes somnolent and unable to awaken any of her siblings, and why I consider five girls every twenty years a small price to pay to achieve that?"

She did. More than anything else, she was horrified by the fact that _part of her agreed_. After those dreams, though...

Anyone who'd seen what she had would want to prevent that by any means necessary.

"Hellboy's not here to wake the creature up, or help free any of the others," she said instead. Not that it mattered; something about the Dean said that she could tell exactly what Laura was thinking. "He's here because his team is the BPRD's best, and this is exactly the sort of mission they'd be assigned to."

"Anyone who knows anything about the Ogdru Jahad - such as the Oannes Society - will recognize his hand for what it is, and seek to exploit it. It doesn't matter _why_ he's here, whether he's resisting his true nature or not, it matters _that he's here_. Hellboy has the potential to usher in the end of the world, Agent Sapien is the Oannes Society's Chosen One, and Miss Sherman...?"

Laura blinked, then frowned. "Hey, nothing that happened back then was her fault!" She _had_ managed to research the rest of Hellboy's team (though information on Abe had obviously been lacking), so she knew about what had happened to Liz's family... and everyone else within a city block.

"I know," the Dean agreed, much to Laura's surprise. "But she would have been very fragile afterward, latching onto the other two as a surrogate family. If the truth about them becomes known - if, indeed, they do revert to their roots - she's almost certain to go with them, regardless of what they may do, or what her superiors order. She could well doom the world for the sake of her 'family'. Whether they're the BPRD's best or not, every minute that they remain here they place us all in danger."

"Then _tell them_ about this! Hell, tell _everyone_!"

"I'm the villain, remember? They would simply interpret any warnings I gave them as attempted trickery, and disregard them. As for everyone else... Tell me, if you were to broadcast that the team the BPRD had investigating Silas consisted of the antichrist, a member of a society who wished to bring about the end of the world - whose body had become an example of their intended final form for humanity - and an unstable pyrokinetic who would defend her new family despite anything said or done, what do you think the reaction would be among your viewers?"

Laura thought about that... and cringed. "Panic. Riots. Quite possibly international tensions."

"Precisely. That's why I'm not worried about you broadcasting any of this - that, and you would eventually realize that if word got out about the Right Hand of Doom, it would be sought after as a weapon. Who would dare resist someone holding the entire universe hostage? To say nothing of those insane enough to actually _want_ to bring about the end of everything."

Laura felt nauseous just thinking about it. "The BPRD still might be able to come up with a way to kill Lophiiformes," she suggested, more subdued.

"If they do, I will gladly make use of it. In the meantime, now that you have a better idea of what you've involved yourself in, we're back to the matter of figuring out what to do with you. You do understand why I cannot afford to let you continue blindly fumbling about, yes?"

"Yeah." Though, she did only have the Dean's word that she wasn't _actually_ just feeding girls to Lophiiformes in exchange for power, didn't she? The rest of it agreed too much with what she'd seen in her dreams to be a lie, but that...? Though, she didn't know that the Dean _wasn't_ telling her the entire truth, either. More information - from other sources - was an absolute necessity, now.

"Good. If you've managed to even indirectly catch the attention of the Ogdru Jahad, that may well mean that you have the potential to set in motion a chain of events that would bring about the doom of all." Laura shuddered, feeling sick. "There are only three ways I know of to cut off their connection to you: I could kill you, I could feed you to Lophiiformes, or I could... change you."

"Change me?" Laura echoed. Realization set in seconds later, and her eyes widened. "I-Into...?"

"A vampire? Yes. Even before this, one of my children has repeatedly suggested doing so to me, saying it would be better to have you with us than against us."

"Who...?" To her lack of surprise, the Dean didn't answer. Well, it wouldn't have been Bree, Laura knew that. Bree _hated_ being what she was; she'd never suggest inflicting that fate on someone else. Unfortunately, the only thing she could pick up from what the Dean had said was that the suggestion had come from someone with a sense of tactics, which... kind of eliminated most of the people she knew at Silas, who would have made emotional arguments, or just suggested she be left alone. (Well, anyone she knew better than as a random classmate, anyway.)

"As you've never gone anywhere near the few shrines dedicated to the Ogdru Jahad, nor sought them out, the only way for them to have contacted you would be through Lophiiformes, and the link her victims established to you. Dying or being fed to her would render you useless to them, while becoming a vampire would cut you off from her victims completely."

"But..." She looked down at the Charm of Maugris on her wrist.

"That won't protect you indefinitely." The Dean closed the book - the cut on her hand had healed almost immediately - and handed it back to Laura. "If you survive this sacrifice, that will simply make you all the more interesting to them. Should Lophiiformes somehow be killed, things would naturally be different, but the cavern where she resides is _littered_ with weapons dropped by those who tried and failed, some of which are deadlier than anything left out in the world. One or two were even tossed in there to _keep_ them from potentially being taken up by those who might 'misuse them', and Lophiiformes will not allow anyone down into her resting place. You wonder if I'm just serving her in exchange for power, don't you?"

"Well... yeah." That was a rather obvious concern, wasn't it?

"Do you know what power is, Miss Hollis? What it truly is? Choices. In that, all power is the same. Magic. Physical strength. Economic strength. Political strength. It all comes down to the same thing, in the end: giving the one who possesses it a broader spectrum of choices. Creating alternative courses of action. Lophiiformes knows what options are available to me as I am, just as she knows those would vastly increase were I to gain access to the hoard she unintentionally guards. The feeding cycle keeps her largely dormant, but that would require something more."

A sudden burst of intuition hit Laura. "An _actual_ sacrifice," she realized. "All the girls you've fed her... You had to infect them to get them to along with things, and by then they're so out of it they have _no idea_ what's going on. A _real_ sacrifice, to her, would have to be willing, wouldn't it?" Her gaze flicked briefly down to the book. "They'd have to show that they mean it."

The Dean eyed her thoughtfully. "You _can_ be quite intelligent when you choose, can't you? If only you would choose to be so more often." Before Laura could do more than blink at that, she pressed on, "Yes, that would likely be the only way to get her to allow access to the lower cavern, but no one, no matter how much they might agree, might do anything to save a loved one, truly _wants_ to be sacrificed to her, so it's never worked. Which brings us, once again, back to the question of how to deal with you. Simply killing you might be the safest and most certain method, but it would also be a waste of resources. Sacrificing you and changing you both offer certain rewards. Shall I leave it up to you to decide?"

"Me?" Laura echoed in surprise. "Did any of the others get a choice?"

"None of the others had the dreams that you have." That shut her up quickly. "If you're truly so determined to be the people's champion, then choose how best to serve them: as a sacrifice to prevent an unkillable monster from rising up and feasting upon them en masse, or as a soldier in a war they'll never know about. Who knows? Perhaps, with eternity stretched out in front of you, you'll eventually stumble across that elusive method of killing her."

"And you won't screw around with my brain until I don't even remember wanting to do that, let alone have any desire to?" Laura asked, blatantly skeptical.

"Does Sabrina seem like I've altered _her_ in such a fashion? Despite how much simpler that would make things for me, if I did?"

"I'm sure you've tried."

"Why? Because she's so honest and caring?" That... didn't really agree with her argument, Laura had to admit. "No. I make changes to allow my children to better adapt to this life. Do you know what I could do for you, sweet little Laura?"

The charm she was wearing was keeping the Dean from mesmerizing, Laura knew that. Nevertheless, she couldn't break eye contact. "What?" she asked softly, despite herself.

"Surcease." Why couldn't she look away? "I can make it all stop. The anxiety. The fear. The horror brought on by your dreams. I could give you peace. The power you would gain from becoming one of us would give you far more options to help people, as you so desire. And more than all that, you would finally give Sabrina the sister she's always wanted."

Laura had been listening to the Dean's words, even if she hadn't quite been swayed by them, but _that_ made her freeze in place. For almost an entire minute, neither of them moved. Eventually, Laura blinked, then, with no particular intonation, remarked, "You bitch."

"Of course," the Dean agreed casually. She stood up. "Make no mistake, Miss Hollis, I have no illusions about myself. I am not a good person, nor am I motivated by any kind of moral fortitude, and what I do is not something anyone _nice_ is capable of. I'm not good, Miss Hollis; I'm _necessary_." With that, she strode away. Laura remained where she was, watching the fountain without really seeing it. Without really seeing anything.

Without any idea what to do.


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Ugh. Not sure if it's the flu or what, but I was dreadfully sick for much of an entire week (more or less recovered by now), so progress on this (or much of anything, really) has been nil. (Also had some trouble getting the muse to stay put afterward, especially with the holidays and... _other_ things that happened at the end of 2016.) Did at least come up with an idea or two for future (unrelated) Carmilla fics, though, so there's that? *shrugs* (They're interesting ones, at least: one's another season 1 fic, the other's another crossover that - somehow - has never been done before, as far as I know.) Anyway, on with the show...

 

* * *

 

"Laura?"

It took a few moments to sink in that someone was talking to her. She wasn't quite sure how long she'd been staring at the fountain. It couldn't have been all that long since the Dean had left, but she'd completely lost all track of time. A hand on her shoulder further brought her out of her stupor, and she turned to see Danny standing next to her, looking down at her in mild concern. "Hey, are you ready to go?" Danny asked her, frowning slightly at her lack of animation. "I texted you before to let you know I was all set, but you never replied."

She had? Laura hadn't heard or felt anything, though she didn't doubt that Danny was telling the truth. At her continuing lack of a reply, Danny's frown deepened. "Are you okay?"

Laura considered that. Nodded. Paused. Considered further. Shook her head 'no'.

Openly worried, now, Danny sat down next to her, one hand on her shoulder while the other gripped one of Laura's. She was squeezing a little too tightly, but didn't seem to realize it. "Laura, talk to me. What's wrong?"

She wanted to tell her, she really did. She even opened her mouth to reply, but nothing came out. Where were her words? Why couldn't she find any words?

"Laura?" Danny was starting to freak out. Laura felt bad about that, but still couldn't manage to get anything to come out of her mouth. She knew what she wanted to say, but it was like the connection between her thoughts and her lips had been interrupted. Aside from Danny's grip, she didn't really feel much, either, numbness having settled into her body. Danny's head abruptly jerked around, something clearly having caught her attention. Laura reacted far more sluggishly, only managing to turn just in time to see Bree skidding to a halt near the bench. She must have been more out of it than she'd thought, because she hadn't heard anything at all.

"I'm sorry!" Laura had never seen her roommate look so distressed, before. "I came as soon as I could get my feet to move again. She didn't want me interrupting your conversation." Bree began non-subtly looking Laura over to make sure she hadn't been physically harmed.

Danny, the undisputed champion of that particular activity, immediately recognized what she was doing, if not why. " _Who_ didn't?" There was an edge to her tone that suggested she knew exactly what Bree was about to say.

Bree didn't even look at her as she replied, "Mother." If there was a bit more loathing in the word than there should have been, given the Dean's mind control, no one present was going to call her on it. She crouched down in front of Laura, first checking the Charm on her wrist to make sure it was still present and intact, then simply looking up at her, wide eyes full of warmth and concern. "What did she say?"

Laura _tried_ to answer, really she did. She very much wanted to say something - _anything_ \- to try and assuage her friends' concerns. Her expression shifted to one of frustration when she _still_ couldn't find any words.

Bree, at least, seemed to understand why. She clearly didn't like it, but likely due to her own experiences with the Dean, she knew when not to push. "That bad, huh?" Laura could only nod. She was starting to feel like the cold was seeping into her bones, despite knowing she had plenty of layers on to keep warm, and she couldn't quite stop shaking. Naturally, Bree noticed. "Hey. C'mere," she said, holding her arms out. That was all the invitation Laura needed, launching herself forward and nearly knocking them both to the ground as she let Bree pull her into a hug. She didn't even care that she was kneeling on the cold pavement, she _needed_ this. Additional warmth enfolded her from behind, and she realized a moment later that it was Danny. Somewhere in the back of her mind lurked the thought that she didn't have time for this, that she had to tell her friends what the Dean had told her, so that they could figure out what to do next... but that thought wasn't gaining much traction. Apparently, she'd finally found the limit on how much she could take all at once.

Really, that was information she could have lived without.

A high-pitched keening whine emerged from her throat and she buried her face against Bree's neck, her shoulders shaking as she started to cry.

"...are we really, _**really**_ sure the Dean can't be killed?" Danny growled.

"I've seen her take a spear to the chest without even blinking," Bree said even as she comfortingly stroked Laura's hair. "And that was apparently one of the milder attempts on her life. From what I understand, people have tried decapitating her, without success."

"Lophiiformes won't let her die." The words were barely audible, and so choked with tears that they were all but unintelligable, but it was the first thing Laura had managed to say since the Dean had left her alone. It hadn't been easy getting even that out, but she couldn't just let Danny run off and get herself killed.

There was a pause, then Bree laughed softly. "Of course it's worrying about someone else that gets you to start snapping out of it," she murmured.

"It was worrying about other people that made me..." She trailed off, not quite able to finish that sentence, but not really needing to.

"What _did_ she say?" Danny asked, pulling back but making sure to maintain physical contact. Laura appreciated that she was learning how to try and figure out a balance between her instinctive desire to protect Laura from, well, anything and everything, and Laura's need to not be babied.

"Danny..." Bree began, a distinct note of warning in her tone.

"I know, I know!" Danny defended. "But... Well, I honestly can't figure out what she could have said that would provoke _this_ reaction. Besides, we can't just sit here, out in the open, like this, all day."

"...she explained," Laura said softly. It was a bit louder than she'd been before, as she continued regaining her mental footing, drawing strength from the loving warmth surrounding her.

"Explained what?" Bree didn't sound happy about asking, and obviously would have preferred to save questions for after, when Laura was back to normal, but she clearly recognized that Danny wasn't exactly wrong about their potentially vulnerable position.

"Everything. Lophiiformes, the girls..." She shuddered violently. "...the things in my dreams."

"She..." Bree seemed to be at a loss for words. "All this time, she doesn't tell any of us anything, rewiring our brains if we get too curious, and you just..."

"Sorry?"

"...No." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It's hardly your fault none of us ever tried going public. Though I suppose it might be hers." She gave Laura one final squeeze, then let go and stood up, pulling Laura to her feet and keeping her steady until she regained her balance. "Danny's right, though. Standing around out in the open isn't the safest thing for you to be doing, at the moment."

"Yeah..." For all that she'd managed to regain the power of speech, Laura still sounded - and felt - rather listless. Given what the Dean had told her... Well, the prospect of being killed wasn't exactly hitting her as hard as it had been, before. She wiped away the tears on her face, sniffling as she actively tried to stop crying. She didn't really feel any better, but she could at least function again. Idly, she pulled her phone out of her pocket and looked at it. "You texted me _nine times_?" she asked Danny, weary amusement creeping into her voice. She'd still been somewhat tired when she'd left the hospital, and her conversation with the Dean (and subsequent mini-breakdown) hadn't helped matters any.

"Given everything that's happened, when I know you're not supposed to be doing anything that would keep you from noticing and replying to my messages, and you still don't, I think I have cause to worry," Danny replied, unapologetic.

"...eh, fair enough," Laura allowed. To her surprise, Danny hadn't been the only one trying to get a hold of her. "Perry? What did she want?" She opened the message, but it didn't clear things up as much as she'd hoped. "Oh, wait. It's actually from LaF. I guess they forgot to charge their phone or something, and borrowed Perry's. Apparently, they have something to show me in one of the bio labs?"

"Ah." Danny, at least, seemed to have some idea what that was about. "I gave them some samples from the frog monsters and such to analyze yesterday. I guess they must have discovered something interesting."

Laura had the depressing feeling she knew exactly what LaFontaine might have learned. Part of her wasn't sure that she wanted to know - she would have loved to have been able to write off at least some of what the Dean told her as lies - but the rest of her needed that confirmation. She was an investigative journalist (in training), so she didn't have the luxury of only learning information that she liked. Denial wouldn't serve her - or anyone - at this point.

Besides, she kind of needed to know _exactly_ how screwed she was.

 

* * *

 

Sometimes, Laura hated being right.

The hell of it was, not only had she been right about what LaF had to tell them, but that very confirmation of one more part of the Dean's story meant that Laura had, essentially, succeeded in her investigation. She knew who was taking the girls, and even why. ( _Where_ was still an unknown, as was how they were infected with the parasites. She was pretty sure that such information was a closely guarded secret, which she wouldn't be finding out until it was too late to tell anyone. She could worry about that later, though.)

It had surprised absolutely no one that one of the first things Laura had done - after asking where Perry had gone (the Floor Don, as it turned out, had been so exhausted that, once she was sure LaFontaine was alright, she'd gone back to her room for a nap) - was sit down at the computer and turn on the built-in webcam. "I'm not sure the BPRD's gonna be okay with you posting this," LaF warned. "Though, I guess it wouldn't _exactly_ interfere with their investigation..."

"It doesn't matter." Laura hadn't really recovered any energy, but having gotten up and moved around had at least woken her up a bit more. "I'm not going to be broadcasting this. Any of this. Ever."

They blinked. " _Any_ of...?"

Danny was also confused, but for a different reason. "Why turn on the camera at all, then? If it's for the BPRD, you have Agent Sherman's phone number. You can just call and tell them whetever you need to."

"I know. This is something I couldn't really do before. I'm not sure that I'm ready for it now, but... Well, this may be my only chance." She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Hey, Dad," she said softly, giving the camera a brief, tired smile. "If you're watching this, chances are I'm dead... or worse. I can't even imagine what you're feeling right now, but you can't let your grief or pain push you into doing something foolish." The others had fallen silent once they realized what she was doing, leaving the lab _very_ quiet. Even whatever equipment was in there - unlike LaFontaine, Laura had no idea what any of it was, computers notwithstanding - was humming away inaudibly, as if in respect for her actions. "Please. I know I'm asking a lot, but the only thing you'd accomplish is getting yourself killed. Hopefully, by the time I'm done explaining, you'll understand why you have to let this go... and why I chose what I did." She paused. "Or we've somehow defied all logic and done the impossible, I'm still alive and well, and you're watching this _years_ down the road. That'd be _great_ if we could somehow pull it off, but if we can't..."

So she began explaining, from the beginning, with Betty's disappearance. "I have no idea if my videos will still be up by the time you watch this, but if they are... Please understand why I couldn't tell you about any of this. It's bigger than me, much more so than anyone else here even knows, yet." LaF, sitting next to her, looked somewhat puzzled. Danny, standing on the other side of her, was (still) concerned. Bree, for her part, was alternating between pacing in the background and leaning against a table behind Laura. She may not have known the specifics, but Laura's reaction had already given her a fair idea of how bad it had to be, so she was unhappy, but also unsurprised. Laura had made sure to introduce all of them, even plugging in JP's flashdrive so he could participate, too. She explained about the other missing girls, the vampires, the parasites... Everything they'd turned up in their investigation.

Then it was LaF's turn. They told the others about examining the blood samples from the night before, even pulling up a few images and charts to help support their point. (Or so Laura assumed. They were clearly _trying_ to keep their explanation accessible to the non-scientifically inclined, they just... weren't entirely succeeding.) At Perry's prompting, they'd (politely) lodged an inquiry with campus security regarding whether their cameras had gotten a look at any of the faces of the frog monsters' human forms, to try and determine if they'd started as human or amphibian. Remembering her own experiences with the security people when Betty had vanished, Laura wasn't holding out much hope that LaF would be getting an answer anytime soon. LaF wasn't, either, but remarked that this way, no one could say they hadn't at least tried to go through proper channels. Then they dropped their big bombshell: the other sample, containing the perfected version of what the frog men were clearly trying to be, had come from Agent Abe Sapien.

Bree and Danny were understandably surprised by this. For her part, Laura could only sigh quietly, shoulders slumping. Really, it would have been so nice to be able to write off at least _one_ thing the Dean had told her as a lie. Reality was never that forgiving, though. She'd known that since she was a little girl and she'd realized, in that odd moment of clarity as she'd watched the lights of the oncoming SUV head right for the car she and her mother were in, that her life was about to change forever. Her reaction - or lack thereof - didn't exactly go unnoticed. "This doesn't seem to be entirely new information to you," LaF noted, eyeing her.

"Well, it _is_ the first time I've heard it from someone I knew I could trust to be telling me the truth," Laura replied. LaF seemed to appreciate her statement of confidence in their honesty, but also obviously hadn't missed the implication that she _had_ heard it before. "But you're right," she confirmed. "And Dad," she said into the camera, "if you were wondering about the red eyes and utter lack of any kind of energy..." She gestured vaguely at herself. "...well, that's the natural aftermath of having a private conversation with Silas's own Dean of Students, Lilita Morgan." She politely gave LaFontaine a minute to digest that, then launched into her own expository speech. She'd been making sure to pay attention, after all, so she remembered _everything_ the Dean had said to her - no matter how much she didn't want to - as well as her own contributions, because, as much as she hated even _thinking_ about her dreams, the others needed to know how much worse things were than they'd thought, and why they couldn't just go around telling everyone about it.

It took a while.

"So, that's where we are," Laura finished, closing the Sumerian book she'd been holding up to show her friends - and the camera - the illustration of the Right Hand of Doom. "If I do nothing, five girls - which may or may not include me, or whatever replacement the Dean comes up with - are going to unquestionably be killed, their souls condemned to a fate worse than death. If I try to save them, I'll either die in the attempt, or cause the creature to wake up fully and break free, going on a rampage and most likely slaughtering thousands, who would _also_ have their souls devoured. If _that's_ what starts the chain reaction to wake up the other Ogdru Hem, leading to the Ogdru Jahad breaking free and destroying literally _**everything**_... Obviously, I can't do that, either. More over, the Dean isn't going to _let_ me. She's made it clear that my choices are die, be sacrificed, or... be changed. Since I don't know when the sacrifices are, I don't know how long I have to make a decision." She was starting to cry again, but barely noticed. "I mean, what am I supposed to do, here?" she asked helplessly, tears in her voice. "There aren't any good choices, with this. There's die, _worse_ than die, or be Vampire Laura with her brain rewired by the Dean. Dying would be the simplest way, just that and done, but that wouldn't do anything to help anyone else. It's also the one option the Dean ruled out, since it would be 'a waste of resources'. Being sacrificed would at least buy another twenty years to find a way to kill Lophiiformes, but would also mean I could be used _against_ the people I want to help, which is the biggest reason not to become a vampire. I mean, we _know_ that the Dean has a habit of reprogramming her 'children' - I have yet to meet a single one who _hasn't_ had that done to them - but _I'd_ be exempt from that, for some reason? On the other hand, that is the only option that would let me live and, hopefully, use my new abilities to keep people safe. And..." She trailed off, turning to look at Bree.

The blonde had been looking at Laura with an expression of quiet misery on her face - her story had elicited looks ranging from shock to alarm to a stunned blankness from all three of them, to varying degrees, but the description of what she was being cruelly forced to decide had resulted in that - but it shifted to one of horror as she quickly grasped the implications of what Laura _wasn't_ saying. "No," she said immediately, shaking her head. "Not for me. Don't you dare... I won't let you do that for my sake!"

That didn't really make much sense, to her. "You wouldn't be alone, that way."

"Laura, I'm never _alone_ ," Bree told her, right hand instinctively rising up to grasp the cross hanging from around her neck. Her left was rubbing at her head, not far from the area that had been hurting her during her phone call with the Dean earlier. Laura wasn't quite sure why, though she did have an idea or two. (Ideas she was _not_ going to be mentioning to anyone, to avoid drawing attention to it in the off chance she was right.) "You don't need to worry about me... and you don't need to _die_ for me to think of you as a sister," she added softly.

Laura smiled briefly, actually able to feel the warmth that statement generated even through her numb state. "No, but unless we stumble across some previously unthought of means of killing Lophiiformes, no one will be able to kill the Dean, and since we can't risk screwing up the sacrifice until we _do_ have some way of taking care of the thing, I'm stuck making a decision. At least if I chose that, you'd be there with me. Maybe things... wouldn't be so bad, then?" She shrugged. "Apparently one of your siblings feels the same, since he or she has been trying to convince the Dean to change me for a while, now."

"Is that so?" Bree went rigid with sudden anger, her tone hardening. She squeezed her eyes shut. "Well, she and I will be discussing this later. Privately." Her headache seemed to be getting worse, which supported Laura's theory about what was causing it: that the Dean's control of Bree was slipping again. It would be great if she was right, but she knew she couldn't count on it. And even if she was, Bree had made it clear she didn't know how to kill the Dean, and hadn't known about who and what Lophiiformes was at all before Laura's investigations, so that wouldn't do anything to save Laura, or any of the others.

It might save Bree, though. And if it took being sacrificed to make her leave, and save herself...

Danny shifted her weight, nervously watching Bree. Given that the only other times she'd used that kind of tone had lead to physical violence, Laura couldn't entirely blame her, she supposed. "Well, in the meantime," she began, drawing the room's attention back to her in order to try and defuse tensions, "we need to see what we can do about getting more information. That the Dean was telling the truth about some of what she told me doesn't necessarily mean it was all true... and I still don't know that she _isn't_ just sacrificing the girls in exchange for power, with the planet's survival being a nice bonus."

"A way to kill the thing might be nice, too," LaF added.

"Well, any inside sources we could find around here either don't know anything, can't tell us anything, both, or simply can't be trusted," Danny noted.

"Yes, well, if I had any siblings who'd somehow slipped Mother's control, knew a lot about potentially apocalyptic threats and how to deal with them, and had the resources to track down whatever it took to do that, I'd tell you to get that person's help," Bree replied, voice clipped.

"Yeah," Laura agreed softly, looking right into the camera. "Someone like that would probably be my only chance for making it through all this as is."

Danny put a hand on her shoulder. "For the record, while I can't deny it would be an adjustment, I'm not gonna break up with you if you become a vampire."

"Thanks, Danny." Laura's smile was brief and strained, but entirely genuine. That hadn't really been a factor in her thinking - mainly because she didn't know how much of the real her would be left if she did that, given the Dean's habit of making 'revisions' to those she sired - but it was good to know, all the same. An almost subsonic growl floated over from Bree's direction, making it obvious how little she cared for _any_ part of this conversation, and Laura decided it was time to move things along. She stopped recording, then asked, "J.P., if I email the video file of this to the Library, would you be able to send it to my Dad if... something happens to me, or if I don't periodically tell you not to?"

'Certainly.' Unlike her computer, the one in the lab didn't have any text-to-speech software for J.P. to take advantage of, so he'd been forced to utilize his old typewritten text interface. 'This is all information the Library's never had, so it would be happy to carry out your wishes in exchange for access to it.'

"That's fine," Laura said, smiling faintly. "I doubt I'll have to worry about the Library spreading it around. If it knows about any weapons that might work, or anything that might help reveal the presence of more of those frog monsters, could it let me know?"

'I can certainly ask.'

"In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about more scientifically-oriented ways of tracking them," LaFontaine promised. "Pheromones or something, maybe."

"Thanks." Laura paused. "About Perry..." she began slowly.

They blinked. "What about her?"

"It's just... I'm not saying don't tell her what we're doing, or why, but... Maybe she doesn't need to know the _exact_ scope of the problem? She might have a little trouble processing _everything_ all at the same time... and I'm pretty sure the Dean would _not_ like what she told me spreading around. The more of us who know, the more of us who are in danger. I can have J.P. email her a copy of the video along with my Dad, so she can deal with it when there's _not_ a crisis going on." She didn't even consider just saying they shouldn't tell Perry at all. She was a journalism student, LaF was the dorm's Unofficial Truthspeaker, and, above all else, Perry was their friend. Keeping her in the dark would be wrong.

Right then, however, letting her in on everything would also cause unnecessary problems.

LaF was visibly torn, but, reluctantly, agreed. "Yeah, that's... probably best. She won't be happy, but she'll also be better able to deal with it a little at a time."

"If there's nothing else, you should probably pack up and leave," Bree told her. She'd straightened up and lowered her hand, but the sunglasses she'd produced from somewhere (Laura wasn't quite sure where) said her headache hadn't quite gone away, so much as she was trying to ignore it.

"Okay." She sighed. "Give me a minute to get this sent to the Library, and I'll be ready to go." LaF headed off to... go do something science-y, Laura was sure. Bree and Danny moved to stand in the lab's doorway, quietly discussing something. Laura wasn't entirely sure what, but the few words she managed to catch sounded security-related, which... really didn't surprise her in the slightest. She pulled up the computer's web browser, opened her email, and copied the addresses for both her Dad and Perry, to make sure J.P. (and the Library) had them. Then she began writing a new email to send to the Library, attaching the video file... and, when she was sure nobody was looking, writing a quick message in the text field so that J.P. would know that, in addition to her other requests, she wanted him to send a copy of the video to the BPRD _now_. Because while Hellboy and his team might be compromised - not now, perhaps, but potentially, in the future - there was one person there who _might_ be able to help her.

Carmilla.


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** I wanted to get this out as soon as I could, since, after the past several weeks, I'm pretty sure people could use a distraction. (Of course, the emotionally-draining nature of those few weeks is also why it's late, so... yeah.) Of course, just because I _wanted_ to...

 

* * *

 

 

"What... Wait, where are you going?"

"Where do you think?"

"You can't-"

"I think you'll find that I can, Firecracker. Move."

"Wait-!"

"No."

Hellboy looked up at the exchange coming from the other room. Their sweep of Silas had come up blank in regards to finding any further sign of the frog monsters, so his team had returned to their rented house to rest and restock, and figure out their next move. Carmilla had been waiting for them, impatient for _any_ kind of update. Hellboy could understand how she felt - their typical missions were more immediate, 'something's killing people, go stomp it into the ground', with long-term investigations typically handled by someone else, so neither of them was really used to this sort of thing - but an agitated Carmilla could be a dangerous thing, and the campus was actually quiet just then, which meant no convenient outlet for her excess energy, and nothing for her to take her frustrations out on except the BPRD personnel.

Little wonder Kate wasn't exactly insisting she head back to the other house.

Fortunately - or so it had seemed at the time, anyway - they'd barely been there a few minutes before the BPRD had informed them that an email had just been received, with a video file attached, addressed to Carmilla... and that it had been sent from the Silas Library. Presumably, that meant it had come from J.P., but the video attachment suggested Laura. She'd never done anything like that, though - anything she learned was either posted online for all to see, or not filmed at all until she'd gotten the okay from them - and she certainly hadn't seemed like she'd intended on doing any more investigating that day when she'd left the hospital, according to Carmilla, which had left the vampire suspicious that it was some kind of trap, or that her 'mother' was trying to send them on a wild goose chase. Either way, watching the video would give her something to do while the rest of them worked out their next course of action. Liz had even gone with her, to make sure she didn't get bored and wander off midway through the video - a potentially valid concern, given that she hadn't even kept an eye on Laura until she'd checked out of the hospital as she'd been supposed to, not even bothering to tell anyone that the girl had even _been_ released until much later. They'd been in Liz's room for a while (Liz had agreed to watch it in private as a concession to Carmilla's paranoid instincts), suggesting that this video was longer than any of the ones Laura had posted online.

Judging by the exchange they'd just overheard, whatever was in it was also worse than any of those others.

Hellboy's eyebrows rose as Carmilla stalked into the room with Liz clinging to her. The petite pyrokinetic had her arms wrapped tightly around the vampire, feet skidding across the floor as she futilely tried to halt their forward progress. That part didn't escape Liz's notice, either. "This really isn't making a difference, is it?" she asked rhetorically.

"No." Carmilla marched down the hall and into the living room, clearly heading straight for the front door. Being only a rental house, it was sparsely decorated - presumably, since Trofaiach didn't exactly have a bustling tourist industry, the owner hadn't seen any point in including anything more than basic furnishings; honestly, Hellboy had to wonder what, if anything, the houses were used for the rest of the time - so there wasn't even anything for Liz to grab onto in order to try and anchor herself. (On the plus side, that meant no furniture was getting broken, as he was fairly sure even that wouldn't have stopped Carmilla.) Hellboy and Abe had been writing up their official reports - they'd been taking their time, since the higher ups already knew what had happened, so there was no real rush - while the techs were in the dining room, keeping an eye on Sarah Jane while they ran another series of tests on the latest blood sample. (Sarah Jane herself was off in her own world, completely oblivious to everyone and everything that had nothing to do with her 'party'.) Relief flowed into Liz's eyes as she spotted them, and she wasted no time in calling, "H.B., give me a hand, here? I can't seem to get through to her that just marching down to Silas and confronting the Dean without anything resembling a plan is a _bad idea_."

He was honestly surprised by that. Not that Carmilla wanted to take down the Dean sooner rather than later - _all of them_ wanted to do that - but that she would be so rash as to head off to confront the woman she _knew_ they had no idea how to kill. He swiftly rose and moved to intercept them. "Whatever was on that video must have been a doozy," he remarked as he reached out with his right hand, knowing Carmilla wouldn't be able to shrug that off as easily as she would his left... and wound up grabbing air as she dissolved into a black mist, reappearing behind him. Liz, abruptly struggling against nothing at all, nearly fell backward, until her flailing arms managed to catch his outstretched hand at the last second.

If he hadn't already been able to tell Carmilla was upset, that alone would have clued him in. She didn't pull that trick too often (unless she was out on a mission), and even then, rarely during the day.

Abe positioned himself in front of the door, but was obviously aware that if Carmilla wanted to go around - or _through_ \- him, he wouldn't be able to stop her from doing so. "Between you and Mayor Belmonde, it's been made pretty clear that the Dean can't simply be killed. Did something in the video suggest a way around that?"

"No," Liz blurted out in before Carmilla could answer, if she was going to.

"Running off without any kind of plan isn't like you," Hellboy added. She'd learned very quickly while serving with the Army why she couldn't do so, and that had stuck with her during her time with the BPRD. Carmilla had paused a few feet away from the door, but the way she was all but vibrating with agitation made it clear she wouldn't be for long if they couldn't get through to her.

"I have a plan," she snapped in reply. "I'm going to shove her head-first into a woodchipper, set what comes out on fire, douse it in gasoline and set it on fire again, then blow up whatever's left. If that doesn't work, I'll start getting creative."

Hellboy, having spent the most time with her, was the only one there who wasn't at all phased by how violent her idea was. "I don't think they even have a woodchipper on campus, and I haven't seen any kind of local equivalent of Home Depot around for you to get one from. I _do_ think that if you confront that woman in this state of mind, you won't last long enough to try doing much of anything to her." Carmilla let out a quiet, rumbling feline growl, teeth clenched... but she was listening, if only for the moment. He just had to keep her doing so. "You maybe want to let the rest of us know what that video was about, so we can be upset, too?" Reminding her of the video was a risk, true, but the explanation would likely take long enough to think of something else. Besides, anything that could affect his honorary aunt in such a fashion was something that he felt the rest of them _needed_ to know.

"Laura... seems fairly convinced she's not going to make it through all this as she is now," Liz spoke up when it became clear Carmilla wasn't going to answer. "She made a video for her father, telling him everything she knew, but she also asked J.P. to specifically send it to Carmilla."

"Mother found her alone earlier today," Carmilla added, and never in all the time Hellboy had known her did she sound as much like she wanted to beat something into a bloody pulp as she did right that second. "Since she couldn't just kill her or make her disappear with all the attention Laura had brought Silas under, she decided to do something far crueller: she explained. Not about what she does to infect the girls, of course, or where they are now. But the why of it... and several other things. Because Mother evidently didn't want Laura to keep working with us, to keep _trusting_ us. And since the BPRD's presence here really consists of you three, as far as she knows..." She trailed off, letting Hellboy and Abe draw their own conclusions about what she wasn't saying. She was silent for a long moment, letting them process that, then focused on Hellboy. "You told me once, around the time of the last sacrifice cycle, that you were perfectly happy not knowing what the lunatics who summoned you to Earth were trying to achieve, remember? When we were speculating what Mother could possibly be hoping to achieve, and thinking about some of our other past cases involving ritual sacrifices? I believe your exact words were, 'I _like_ not knowing. I've gotten by for fifty years without knowing. I sleep good _not knowing_.' The info in that video isn't going to be spread around the agency - most won't even know it exists - but if you watch it... you'll know. And there won't be any going back." She shifted her gaze to include Abe. "For either of you."

Hellboy and Abe exchanged a look. "Well... The Dean did say that she knew _exactly_ who we were, didn't she?" Abe asked rhetorically. "Her using whatever it is that she knows against us isn't really _that_ much of a surprise."

Hellboy grunted quietly. It wasn't a surprise, but it also wasn't good. He remembered all too well the faint, malicious amusement in her eyes after she'd told him there would be consequences if it became known that anyone in the BPRD had _anything_ to do the frog monsters at _any_ point. "If that video fills in any of the blanks about what's going on around here, I need to watch it," he finally decided. "If only to know what we're up against."

" _We_ need to," Abe corrected.

"You'll regret it," Carmilla warned.

"It should also be noted that none of us in the agency who have seen that video will care about those parts," Liz added. "Those are just details. We know who you _are_." She poked Carmilla. "Right?"

"Obviously. But..." She sighed, a marginal amount of tension draining from her body. "I know what it's like to have parts of my past I'd be all too happy to forget about. So do you. It just doesn't work that way." Even her 'mother' hadn't been able to erase her memories of being reconditioned, so much as temporarily bury them.

"True," Liz agreed with a slight wince. "And guys? Brace yourselves."

"Consider us braced," Hellboy told her, feeling a somewhat familiar mix of impatience and apprehension. If they knew going in that it was going to be ugly and potentially psychologically scarring, how bad could it be, right?

Pretty freaking bad, as it turned out.

It didn't start out that way, of course. Laura's comments to her father made him feel uncomfortably like he was intruding on a private moment, but given that she'd forwarded it to Carmilla, she obviously knew other people would be seeing it. Her recap of events at Silas was nothing new, though he couldn't quite imagine how the elder Hollis would take even that, let alone whatever followed it. (For obvious reasons, ignorance of the supernatural world was not something he'd ever possessed.) If nothing else, Laura's past videos had helped hone her journalistic skills to the point where she was able to summarize everything relevant in a smooth, streamlined process.

After that came LaFontaine's report. Abe had managed to collect a few samples of frog monster goo after they'd turned Laura over to the EMTs - Liz had ridden with her to make sure she made it to the hospital safely - so the agency had already been aware of the hybrid nature of the creatures, and agreed with their conclusion that they'd likely been human first, before being... altered, somehow. (They _also_ agreed Silas wasn't likely to share what, if anything, they learned about the creatures' human identities.) LaFontaine, however, had acquired another sample from something far more advanced, evidently what the frog monsters had been failed attempts to replicate. Hellboy had to wonder if that was what the Oannes Club had been studying in their lab... right until LaFontaine continued, revealing that the advanced sample had come from Abe.

Abe reached out and paused the video. "Well..." He sighed heavily. "...I suppose I can't be all that surprised. I mean, I had to have come from somewhere, and people who blend humans and frogs together are as likely a suspect as anyone." He was silent for a moment. "I'm guessing it gets worse?"

"Doesn't it always?" Carmilla asked from the corner where she was lurking. (She didn't _have_ to be over there, but as it was the far corner of the room from the door, the others were taking that as a sign that she was going to stay for the duration of the whole video.) She wasn't looking at any of them, or even the laptop screen, instead staring moodily at the wall. That, Hellboy decided, probably wasn't a good sign.

Nor was the fact that unlike her friends, Laura wasn't surprised by LaFontaine's news so much as she was mildly depressed. When Liz resumed playing the video, LaFontaine even commented on that. So Laura explained.

And explained.

And explained.

About what would happen if Lophiiformes didn't get its - her? - sacrifices. The Dean's (currently unsupported) claims to be looking for a way to kill it. The Oannes Society and the Club that had split off from it. Langdon Everett Caul, and the maybe-god that had merged with him, transforming him into an _ichthyo sapien_. (Abe didn't pause the video this time, obviously having suspected something along those lines was coming from the moment the Oannes Society was first mentioned. That didn't mean he looked happy.) Laura stated for the record that she didn't necessarily share the Dean's concerns about him, though she admitted she also didn't know him well enough to make a decision one way or another, and there was too much at stake to just take it for granted that there wouldn't be a problem. Hellboy _did_ know Abe well enough to know she had nothing to worry about there, but he could see how a comparative stranger like Laura might be wary.

She didn't give him much time to dwell on it, moving right along. How the Oannes Society had known about the Sumerian book - or Codex, as the Dean evidently called it - was a good question, since, as Laura noted, she hadn't actually told anyone. No one but her friends, anyway, though it didn't seem to occur to Laura that someone might have sold her out. (Precious few in the BPRD knew anything about the book, since it was part of an ongoing investigation, and Hellboy knew them all well enough to know none of them would have said anything. Not to mention that most of those people only learned anything about it after Carmilla made a copy of it, which was _after_ Laura was attacked.) He made a mental note to try and find out who she might have said _anything_ to later, so they could look into the matter further.

Mention of how Vordenberg - Carmilla growled at the name, though she'd never bothered explaining just what she had against that family - distrusted Hellboy due to his demonic nature lead him to conclude that, between that and Mayor Belmonde's restrictions, they weren't going to be getting much in the way of any kind of help from the Silas University Board of Governors. Laura also explained that her blood had been able to reveal the entry for Lophiiformes because she was connected to the subject matter of the book. Given the broad range of topics contained therein, that meant there were potentially a lot of people who could have done the same, possibly even Sarah Jane. (As frazzled and exhausted as she looked, Laura seemingly jumping randomly from one topic to another wasn't a huge surprise.)

Or that was what Hellboy thought, anyway, right up until Laura told them what she'd been seeing in her dreams.

He'd never heard of the Ogdru Jahad, though from Laura's description they sounded like the sort of thing some of the apocolyptic cults he'd dealt with over the years would have loved. Laura was clearly freaked out by what she'd seen (she didn't go too deeply into detail about it), and a quiet, angry hiss from Carmilla made it clear she was _not_ happy about that. Laura repeated the Dean's story about them, which was interesting in and of itself, and the way she was focusing so carefully on making sure she didn't miss anything seemed to be grounding her a little, or at least keeping her from being further disturbed by her dreams. (He didn't personally go in for the research part of their jobs as much as some, but he had no doubt Professor Bruttenholm would be utterly fascinated by all this.)

Then she told them what the key to releasing the Ogdru Jahad was, holding up the book to display a very familiar image as she did so.

The Dean being able to reveal another hidden entry in the book supported what she'd said about what was required to do that, Hellboy noted absently. (He also wasn't surprised that it showed up on video, unlike most of the rest of the book. They'd been able to photograph the page about Lophiiformes when Carmilla had been holding onto the book, despite the rest of it not showing up on any kind of recording device, new or old. Evidently, whatever did that was incompatible with whatever means had been employed to veil some of the pages.) Someone - probably Liz - had paused the video to give him a moment or two to process everything. There was a long silence, then Carmilla offered, "Well, if there's anything good about this, not only do we know the _only_ thing that can set those damn things free, we already have it in our possession, and it can't exactly be stolen by the bad guys." It was a subtle way of letting him know that the rest of them didn't doubt him at all, and he appreciated it. He hadn't really dealt with everything, yet - neither had Abe, he could tell - but that was something that could wait until after their mission was over, when he had enough spare time... and could talk to the Professor about everything in person.

When the video was unpaused, Laura summed things up nicely with the line "Remember, people, Nazis are bad." She stressed that whatever their intentions had been - as well as those of the mysterious Rasputin that the Dean had mentioned - they hadn't gotten their hands on either _the Right Hand of Doom_ or Hellboy himself, thanks to Professor Bruttenholm. She'd never met him, but she had read a lot about him, so she knew she had nothing to worry on that score. (While Laura's view of him didn't affect him or his mood all that much, he _did_ appreciate her faith in what kind of man the Professor was.) Indeed, even the Dean didn't seem to view him as evil - she just didn't _care_. It mattered that _he was there_ , in the thick of things, when those like the Oannes Society would know his hand for what it was, and seek to exploit it. (She didn't know it, but Inez's reaction when she'd recognized it backed that up.) Between that, Abe's own connection to them, and concerns that Liz's personal loyalty to them would override her professional duty and common sense, Laura was understandably wary of their presence. Not suspicious of _them_ , necessarily, but acknowledging that things could go from bad to worse just because they were there, which was no doubt exactly what the Dean had wanted.

Laura summed up the cruel decision the Dean had forced on her, starting to cry in the process, and Hellboy decided that answered the question of what had set Carmilla off so violently before. Of those on screen, Bree's reactions were probably the most interesting. Her refusal to allow Laura to be changed for her sake was hardly unexpected, by that point, nor was her admitting that she'd already let herself grow too close to Laura. What _was_ unexpected was the revelation that one of the Dean's other 'children' had been trying to convince her to change Laura for a while, now. Bree's anger at that was unsurprising, unlike her slip in saying "she and I". Between that and her visible signs of a growing headache, it seemed likely she was in the process of shoving off the Dean's control again. He could only hope it took a while longer this time before the Dean noticed.

The video ended with Laura staring right into the camera and all but flat out asking Carmilla for help, and a quiet, sweet moment between Laura and Danny. Had there been any doubt left what had made Carmilla's temper snap before... "Huh. No wonder you were-" He broke off as he turned to face her, only to find the corner where she'd been standing was now empty. "Aw, crap."

Carmilla was gone.

When had she been there last? He could only account for her up to her comment about his hand, and she probably only stayed that long to make sure he was going to be able to handle the big reveal alright. At some point between then and now, she'd taken advantage of their distraction and silently snuck her way out of the room. They wouldn't have been able to catch up with her in any event, given her speed, but with a headstart, as well...? "Don't be stupid, Carm," he murmured, because there was no point in going after her and potentially blowing her cover (it was always possible that she'd calmed down enough to approach the situation in a more intelligent fashion, after all, and just wanted to reassure Laura that she wasn't going to have to try and deal with the situation alone). And who knew? Maybe the discovery that her long lost 'daughter' was alive and well, and in town, would shake up the Dean enough to let something else slip.

Whatever happened next was out of the BPRD's hands.


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Alright, let's see if I can't manage to get this chapter out a _little_ faster than the last one. (After all, now that everyone's all caught up on the exposition, things can start _happening_ , again. ;) )

**Author's Note 2:** While rereading parts of this story to make sure I have all my details straight, I've noticed that Laura's made a couple of... errors... regarding her classes. Thinking (though it's possible she might have said it aloud earlier) that it would seem odd for a student who wasn't taking any language classes to be asking about Ancient Sumerian, then later asking around about it after she got out of her Spanish class; telling Bree that if she'd gotten used to the musty smell in her Bio classroom she could get used to the smell of warm blood, only to tell LaF she didn't really have any science classes. Um, oops? *embarrassed chuckle* Well, I can admit when I've screwed up, but nothing says I can't, at some point, make those, if not plot points, than at least character relevant. We'll see. ^_^

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Hellboy would have been relieved to know that Carmilla actually had calmed down enough to act in a more rational manner before she'd gotten anywhere near Silas.

She'd like to think she would have managed to do that anyway, regardless of her surrogate family's intervention. Hellboy wasn't wrong about how badly things likely would have gone for her if she'd tried confronting Mother while in that state. She just hadn't quite been able to help it; she hadn't realized just how much anger and frustration had been building up inside her. She hadn't exactly been sitting idle since arriving in Styria, true, but she'd also been kept the house a lot more than she'd liked. Maybe the higher ups had thought she'd be okay with that, since the fact that she'd been going on fewer and fewer field missions as cameras became more and more commonplace meant that she usually stayed at HQ, lending her knowledge to any of the researchers that needed it. That made a certain kind of sense, she supposed, but if that was what they'd been thinking, they clearly didn't appreciate what this mission meant to her. She'd put up with helping Kate 'coordinate' and staying away from anywhere that one of Mother's people (Bree notwithstanding) might see her, but she'd been waiting seventy years for this chance. (During her time in the coffin, she'd never really allowed herself to think stopping Mother was even possible. Had she escaped her prison sooner than she had, she probably would have just run and hid.) She'd just about been at her limits even before watching that video, and afterward...? The attacks on her new family hadn't exactly made her happy, and finding out what Mother was actually taking the girls for was worse. She refused to even consider that the woman was in any way working for the greater good, and the idea that they might have to at all cooperate with her, or, in the event that they discovered a way to kill Lophiiformes before the upcoming sacrifice, that she'd be given a pass on everything that she'd done, that those actions might be considered "hard but necessary choices"...

Then Laura had revealed what Mother was making her choose, and that had simply been the final straw.

She'd always known her 'mother' could be cruel. Bree was living (well, undead) proof that that hadn't changed since Carmilla had been entombed. But to try and disguise it as doing Laura a favor, letting her choose her own fate, rather than having the decision made for her... That was just too much. It was also a lie - even after so long, Carmilla knew her 'mother' well enough to know that she would make sure Laura made the choice she _wanted_ her to, one way or another.

Someone like Mattie would probably accuse her - likely only half-jokingly - of letting her feelings for the girl cloud her judgement. And, if pressed, she would admit that wasn't entirely untrue. Did she care about Laura? Yes, she supposed she did. Laura Hollis was beautiful, smart, feisty, determined, passionate in her beliefs and ideals, and willing to fight for them. How could Carmilla _not_ like such a person? Yet, it wasn't so much her own feelings for Laura that had pushed her over the edge, so much as it was knowing Mother was taking those characteristics and turning them against Laura, just to hurt the young woman. That was simply _wrong_. Even at her worst, when she'd been firmly under Mother's control, something like that would have made Carmilla uncomfortable. (She _wanted_ to believe she would have tried to make it stop, she just... honestly didn't know.)

Of course, that she wasn't going to just walk into Silas and try to take out Mother by herself left her with the question of what she _was_ going to do. The obvious answer would be 'talk to Laura', but that might not be so easy. Oh, she knew where Danny's apartment was - when Laura started going there, the BPRD had made sure to look up the address, though they hadn't worked out how to establish any kind of surveillance on it with the limited materials and manpower they had at their disposal - but she'd seen how utterly emotionally drained Laura had been in the video. Odds were good she'd in no real shape to contribute much, assuming she hadn't fallen asleep already. Also, until she was good and ready to let Mother know she was around, she wanted to keep the number of people outside the BPRD that were aware of her to a minimum. (Admittedly, that time might well be soon, since there didn't seem to be much reason to continue keeping the secret. But for the time being, until she was _sure_ they didn't need to have that kind of ace in the hole, she'd rather stay off the radar... though she _did_ want to make sure that she revealed herself under her _own_ terms, rather than Mother discovering her before she was ready.) That meant leaving Danny out of it. As (perhaps justifiably) paranoid as Lawrence was about her girlfriend's safety, to say nothing of her occasional jealous streak, Carmilla wouldn't be able to accomplish much of anything with her around.

She'd swing past Danny's place and take a quick look to make sure, but if Laura was as out of it as she expected, talking to her would have to wait until the morning. Her next best bet for answers would be to talk to Bree, but she was likely securely tucked away in her room at Mother's. Whether she'd at all broken free of her programming or not wouldn't matter if Carmilla couldn't even get to her. It was imperative that she get more information from _someone_ , though. They still hadn't didn't know who it was that Mother had assigned to reel in Laura - and just because Mother had dispensed with the facade where Laura was concerned, that didn't mean they could afford to have a spy around to stab them in the back - and since the Oannes Society was obviously _not_ Mother's ally, that clearly wouldn't have been who'd told them about the Sumerian book, which meant there were now _two_ people they had to identify. Hopefully, talking to Laura would at least give her a place to start.

She would have loved to talk to Mattie about the whole business, but odds were too good that Mother would be keeping a closer eye on all her children as the sacrifice drew closer - one thing Mattie had been able to "accidentally" let slip was that it tended to take place at some point on All Hallow's Eve (if there was any particular reason for that aside from tradition or sheer habit, she hadn't known) - and with her necklace in Mother's possession, she didn't dare do anything to draw her ire. It was also possible that she didn't even know, given what she'd said about how little attention she paid to what was going on at Silas. This involved a potential sacrifice, true, but if she'd been doing this since Mother had raised her, individual sacrifices might not mean anything to her, anymore. After all this time, what did the minor details matter?

Thinking about Mattie's necklace reminded her of the amulet she still wore around her own neck. True, the tattoo she'd since gotten meant that she didn't really need it, anymore, but she still kept it, just in case. After all, she had no idea if the tattoo would still function if she took massive damage to her back, at least until she could heal, so having a backup on hand only made sense. (She didn't care what Hutch had said at the time, she was _not_ still wearing it out of sentimental reasons.) She'd considered lending it to Mattie - or even Bree - but she knew it would raise too many red flags if either vanished from the radar, so to speak. She wouldn't feel safe even telling either of them what the amulet was until she was sure Mother wouldn't be invading their minds again any time soon, so it remained tucked underneath her shirt, out of sight.

The sun had set, by then, which was good for her purposes. It had always been a bit easier to use her arsenal of vampiric powers at night, even if that wasn't by much, and she had too much ground to cover to do it the human way. She ducked between buildings, made sure she was out of sight of everyone, and changed. Shapeshifting wasn't something she did too often, these days, but she was by no means out of practice. Vampires couldn't become every animal, of course. They didn't have a set amount of alternate forms, but it took a lot of work to learn more than two or three, meaning one needed to sit down and think about what they needed to do, and what compatible forms would let them achieve it - because there needed to be at least some degree of similarity between a vampire and the animal form they wanted to learn. (Also, while it wasn't the same for every vampire, there was a limit to how many alternate forms their bodies could change into before they started getting... confused - which could produce some truly _horrific_ results - so one needed to prioritize.) Her default shift was a panther, that being what was most reflected inside her, but running around downtown Trofaiach like that wouldn't really be appropriate. Instead, she went with her alternate secondary: a European nightjar. They were common enough around Austria, and nocturnal, so no one would think anything of one flying around the town. That was how she'd infiltrated Silas when she'd gone to bug Laura and Bree's room.

It wasn't a very long flight from where she'd been to Danny's apartment, so before long she was perched on a windowsill, looking in. Fortunately, Lawrence hadn't drawn the curtains, so she was able to spot Laura asleep on the couch easily enough. Danny herself was standing near the open refrigerator, drinking from a carton of something that was either milk or juice; she couldn't get a good enough look from the angle she was at to tell. Not exactly great manners - not that she was really one to talk - but Danny probably wasn't used to sharing her living space, so there were bound to be adjustments that needed to be made. She wasn't really the one Carmilla cared about, just then, anyway.

Laura was curled up in one corner of the sofa, and the tension in her jaw said her sleep wasn't terribly restful. She'd probably only passed out due to sheer emotional exhaustion. Danny would probably be waking her up to actually go to bed shortly, which was just as well. All she'd wanted was to make sure Laura was safe and sound before continuing on to her next stop, they could talk in the morning.

In the meantime, Carmilla launched herself back into the air with a new destination in mind: Silas University.

She wasn't going to confront Mother, but she _did_ need to head out to the school. She'd keep an eye out for Laura's friends - or at least the Bio Major and the Floor Don; Laura didn't seem to really be all that close to anyone else there, yet - but since she didn't know which rooms were theirs, she couldn't search for evidence of any suspicious activity. (She'd also risk breaking into an occupied room, which would just be embarrassing.) She needed more information, and there was only one member of Laura's inner circle that she would be able to talk to: J.P. Armitage.

One futile sweep of the campus later - she hadn't seen, heard, or even smelled any evidence of the gingers anywhere - she was winging toward the Library.

She'd never been inside the building herself, before, but Laura had mentioned it enough times in their exchanges via Twitter and texting for Carmilla to know that the Library was a sentient building that could be fairly surly at times, and was more frequently actively hostile after dark. As such, she was sure this was the one place on campus she'd be able to speak to Armitage unobserved. It being Sunday, there wouldn't have been many students in any event, and when she snuck inside - the door was unlocked, which suggested the Library was at least open; though, she supposed it was possible that they didn't bother locking the doors at all, deciding that anyone who was stupid enough to wander in after dark deserved whatever they got - she couldn't even see any signs of staff. That suited her just fine.

First things first, though, she decided as she walked down the aisle into the main reading area, snatching a book out of the air that had been flying at her head. "And hello to you, as well," she remarked, guessing - or at least hoping - that the Library could somehow hear her. "Based on the email earlier today, I presume you know who I am?" She didn't give her name, on the off chance there was someone or something listening in that she couldn't detect. "I need to talk to your little friend." She didn't get an answer, but no further books attempted to commit literal literary assault, so she decided to consider that permission to enter. (The book in her hand had mostly subsided, save for the occasional halfhearted struggle that she simply ignored.) She headed over to one of the computer terminals, noting that she only had to move the mouse to wake it up. Apparently, either they were just left on for fear that the Library might not appreciate anyone trying to exercise any authority over it even in such a minor fashion, or the Library could turn them on at will. She wasn't sure which option would be preferable, honestly. "I'm going to assume this means nobody else is listening in?" she asked once she was close enough.

'You are the only living - or undead, as the case may be - person here, yes,' J.P. confirmed.

"Good." She paused. "Didn't Laura download some kind of text-to-speech software for you? Can you not do that here?" Because while no verbal answers to her questions would be a good thing from a security standpoint - just in case she wasn't the only one to plant surveillance devices anywhere on campus - she agreed with Laura that a better interface was worth the trade-off.

'She did, yes, but the Library doesn't see that as being necessary.'

"Great." She stifled a sigh as best she could. Well, it wasn't like she had anywhere else to be just then anyway, right? "I need more information. Guesses about how the girls are being infected with the parasites, theories as to where they're being taken, anything the school might have learned about the identities of the frog men... That sort of thing. Anything that confirms - or refutes - _anything_ Mother told Laura would also be helpful. Especially if there's any information about those magical weapons that Mother told Laura were down in Lophiiformes's cavern." If they could figure out where that was, they might be able to tunnel their way in underground. If her tattoo - and amulet, she supposed, if they wound up reinforcing each other - kept her off of Mother's mental radar, she was willing to bet the damned monstrosity wouldn't notice her, either. Especially if it was at least somewhat dormant.

'That... could take some time to research, since I presume you would not want the Administration to know about any of those searches.'

"You presume correctly," she told him. "If you could direct me to that journal Laura was reading the other day, though...? She talked about it in the video, so you know the one I mean. Between that and bringing my teammates up to speed on what I'm doing, I think I can keep myself occuppied."

'I don't believe the Library would like you lingering for so long at this time of night.' A skittering in the stacks emphasized his point.

"I think it will." With her free hand, she reached into a pocket and pulled out an actual flash drive. "This has scans of all the tracings I made of the Sumerian book on it. I'm willing to share this in good faith with the Library now, to ensure its continued cooperation."

The skittering abruptly stopped. 'It finds that entirely acceptable,' J.P. told her, and she suspected he would have sounded surprised if they'd been using Laura's computer.

"I thought it might." After a bit of searching, she found a USB port and plugged the flash drive in. "I'd ask if you knew anything about whoever had been supposed to lure in and abduct Laura for Mother or how the frogs knew she had the Sumerian book in her dorm room, but I'm pretty sure that if you knew either of those things, you would have told Laura already."

'Indeed, though I will naturally continue keeping watch for any possible clues.'

"Good." He gave her directions to find the journal written by Abe's former self, which she intended on taking with her when she left. (It was stolen property which should be returned to its rightful owner - or that was the argument she intended on making if the Library objected - and the Library already knew what it said, so it wouldn't really be losing anything.) Abe deserved to at least know what it said, and he could hardly come into the Library to get it without revealing how he knew it was there at all. Laura wasn't _supposed_ to have said anything, after all, or shared her video confession with anyone but her father. Even if he rejected it outright, that was _his_ choice to make.

She just hoped the Wonder Librarian found something before too long. She didn't exactly relish the idea of having to spend the night in the Silas Library.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"You sure you're gonna be okay here by yourself for a little while? I won't be long, promise."

_Breathe, Laura. Just breathe. You know she means well, and having people wanting to kill her girlfriend being the_ _ **less**_ _evil option is setting off her protective instincts._ She got it. Really, she did. But she hadn't exactly slept well, her busy weekend had left her with no time to get any homework done, meaning she was now behind schedule, and Danny had treated her even more like she was made of delicate, fragile glass than ever while they were in bed last night, seeming almost terrified to even touch her. As such, she hadn't quite managed to be... satisfied, and everything from hints to demands to be more aggressive had gone unheeded. "I'll be fine," Laura said flatly. She almost added a comment about how she was pretty sure she wasn't going to be randomly attacked in an empty apartment, but knew that would have just lead to a rebuttal about how she was there at all because that exact thing had happened in her dorm room. She knew she wasn't going to really be safe again until the Dean and the frogs had been dealt with. That was part of why she'd wanted Danny to stop holding back so much, so that she could forget about all of that, if only for a short while. She wanted heat. She wanted passion. She wanted her girlfriend to want her so much that she couldn't quite help herself. (That Danny didn't do that sometimes made Laura wonder, in the back of her mind, whether there was something wrong with her. She didn't appreciate feeling like that.)

_Carmilla probably would have done it._

Laura blinked at the thought. She didn't disagree, necessarily, and knowing the vampire might be her only chance at surviving the mess she was in with her humanity intact had certainly kept her on Laura's mind, but that had been kind of... random. Though, admittedly, she _hadn't_ slept well.

"This shouldn't take long," Danny continued, making Laura wonder - again - if Danny just didn't listen to her when she spoke, sometimes. "I just need to pick up a couple of things, and since you being here until your room's repaired means Bree's likely to stop by, it only makes sense to have a container of blood. I'll write her name on it or something so that you don't mix it up with the juice. Shouldn't take more than twenty minutes or so, then we can head to campus."

"If you just keep standing there telling me how long this won't take, you'll never actually get anything done," Laura pointed out, making an only partially successful attempt at burying her frustration. "Seriously, Danny, I'll be fine." After all, she'd survived being ambushed by a frog monster _and_ successfully fought it off, broken up Bree's latest round of mental conditioning, and even survived a one-on-one encounter with the Dean. She was _not_ helpless.

A mildly chagrined look flickered across Danny's face. "I know, I know..." She gave Laura a quick kiss, grabbed her keys, and sailed toward across the room toward the door. "I'll try to hurry," she promised as she left, though Laura was sure she'd always intended to, so her initial estimate of how long she'd be gone was likely still accurate.

As for Laura, she had already showered the night before (alone, Danny having been making them dinner at the time; Laura had been so exhausted right then that streamlining things to make sure she'd actually get dinner before she fell asleep again only made sense), and was dressed and ready to go, breakfast eaten and all. As such, she had... really nothing to do. She supposed she could be trying to get some of the homework she had done, but there seemed little point in unpacking her backpack when she'd only have twenty minutes or so to work with, as that wasn't enough to get even a single assignment done. "So, I guess I'll just... sit around and be bored," she muttered to herself. "Thanks for that, Danny."

"Aw, chin up, Cutie. I'm sure you'll find something to do."

She gave a horribly undignified squeak of surprise and whirled to see Carmilla standing near the living room's far window, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Where did-?! How did you get in here?" She was sure she would have noticed if the window had opened, even for a second, as, being October 20th, it was getting chilly out, these days.

"If this apartment was entirely airtight, you'd suffocate pretty quickly," Carmilla told her. "Don't worry, though. Traveling as a mist is an _exceedingly_ difficult trick to learn, so you're not likely to have to worry about the bad guys sneaking up on you that way. You can always check with the Crêpe Suzette later, to be sure."

"Uh, right." Off topic, she noticed that Carmilla was apparently _still_ having trouble finding a suitable nickname for Bree. "So... why are you _here_ , now?" She knew Carmilla would have gotten her video, but how much could she have had time to figure out already?

"Two reasons." Carmilla uncrossed her arms and walked closer to where Laura was standing near the small wooden table she and Danny used for meals. (If she was alone, Danny was apparently as likely as not to use a tray table and eat on the couch, watching TV.) She stopped a few feet short, though. "First, I wanted to see how you were holding up."

Laura considered that. "About as well as can be expected, I suppose. Really, nothing about this situation is in any way good, but I'll be okay."

"I believe you," Carmilla said, making Laura blink in surprise. She wasn't quite used to people just... accepting that she could handle something, like that. "Secondly, I need to talk to you about your friends. We still don't know who the mole that was supposed to abduct you for Mother is, and while it's still being investigated, the Oannes Society finding out about that book of yours doesn't seem to have been caused by a leak on our end."

Laura sighed heavily. "...yeah." She hadn't forgotten about either of those things, though she had briefly been distracted from them by other, more immediate concerns. "I mean, I did ask a few questions the other day to see if I could find someone or something to translate Ancient Sumerian for me, which might have tipped them off. If they were watching the Library the night I picked it up, they might have seen me leaving with it. I was keeping an eye out, sure, but not for regular frogs." Bree _had_ mentioned the odd influx of amphibians that had seemed to serve as eyes and ears for the frog monsters... which brought up a new thought. "And if the big ones are psychically linked to regular frogs, and maybe each other if that _is_ how they knew about that one that was being held for study in that lab you guys wanted to get into, can they, like, read minds?"

"I doubt it. You'd never have been able to hit one with pepper spray, let alone do so twice, if they could," Carmilla told her. "To say nothing of them not realizing that Liz was the greater threat during the fight. It is possible the Oannes Society had an undercover agent on campus that overheard you, though." Laura was willing to accept that, and really, not having to worry that the frog monsters that wanted her dead and could assume human form couldn't _also_ read minds was a relief. "Even so, that still leaves Mother's spy. That she's broken from tradition with you and actually told you what's going on doesn't mean we can afford to ignore whoever it is."

"I know, but... Well, I honestly don't know what to tell you," Laura said with a shrug. "I mean, the only one who's raised any kind of suspicion with me at all is Perry." Even that was minimal, and she didn't think the Dean using the last name Perry when Silas was founded really counted, since it wasn't exactly an uncommon last name. The occasional odd look, Bree calling her to look for Carmilla's bugs in their room (she had since seen Perry clean, and no longer questioned Bree's choice) and Perry's apparent unconcern with what she found, the lack of any kidnapping attempts roughly corresponding with Laura encouraging Perry in her love life... They were all little things, but they did kind of add up. Add to that the fact that the Dean might want to have someone keeping an eye on Bree, given her tenuous hold on the blonde, and a Floor Don would be fairly well situated to do so.

Carmilla nodded thoughtfully when she finished explaining that. "She'd also have access, wouldn't she? If anyone spotted her going into or coming out of the girls' rooms, she could just claim to be there on official business. Who'd suspect Lola Perry?"

Laura's stomach twisted. She didn't like being suspicious of her friends, but she also couldn't simply dismiss the thought. It had to be someone - Bree had made that clear - and Perry would have made a perfect choice. To distract herself from worrying about that - and to keep Carmilla from simply leaving, as it had barely been a minute or so since she'd arrived, and Laura didn't want to be alone with her thoughts until Danny got back - she decided a change of subject was in order. "Actually... Are _you_ okay? You look a little... unkempt, maybe?" Carmilla was still wearing the BPRD-esque outfit from the other day, minus the hat, and her hair was free from the ponytail... and messy enough to indicate she'd slept even more poorly than Laura had.

"Spent most of the night in the Silas Library," Carmilla said tersely. "Between Q&A with the Wonder Librarian and bringing my team up to speed, there wasn't much time for sleep. But I can get by on cat naps." She smiled slightly, as if at a private joke. She was staring intently at Laura, though, which... Well, Laura didn't actually know how to feel, since she had no idea what that was about.

Nothing to do but keep asking questions, she supposed. "Do you need to take another one now? You could keep me company until Danny gets back," she offered.

"I really don't think Big Red would like finding me here," Carmilla pointed out, which was, if anything, an understatement. "Besides, I doubt I could fall asleep that easily right now. I'm finding you far too... distracting."

Laura blinked. "Oh. Um, I'm... sorry?"

"Hardly your fault, Cupcake. I've been doing a lot of running around and shifting into this and that since yesterday. I'm... hungry."

"Oh," she said again. In retrospect, maybe she should have just let Carmilla leave. "If this were my dorm room, I'd offer you one of Bree's blood bottles. She probably wouldn't mind sharing." she supposed it was kind of ironic that one of the things Danny was out picking up would have resolved that little dilemma.

"Probably," Carmilla agreed, but the intense look she was giving Laura wasn't going away. "That's not the only thing about you that's distracting me, though." She started walking closer in a distinctly predatory fashion, making Laura instinctively freeze in place.

"Oh?" She really needed to think of something else to respond with, Laura knew, but her brain was lagging a bit.

"Yep." She reached out and snagged one of the belt loops on Laura's jeans with her left hand, yanking her closer with no particular effort until they were all but touching, her right hand resting on Laura's left hip and squeezing just enough to make it clear that Laura wasn't going anywhere until she let her. Laura's heart started beating faster... and not from fear. "I'll be honest. Right now, I have a serious urge to just rip your clothes off and screw you up against that wall."

A bolt of arousal raced through Laura. _That._ That was **exactly** the sort of attitude and desire she'd wanted from Danny. It was immensely frustrating to ask for something over and over and be denied it, only to have it be freely offered from someone else. "Do you?"

"Oh, yes." Carmilla leaned closer, almost pressing her nose against Laura's neck as she inhaled deeply. "Oh, you smell _**SO**_ good," she said softly.

"Really? To hear Bree tell it, my blood is far too sugary."

"We don't all have the same tastes as her."

"Oh. Great. There goes my defense of my sugar-heavy diet as discouraging vampire bites."

Carmilla let out a quiet, liquid chuckle right next to her ear, and every single hormone in Laura's body stood at attention. "Mmm, yes. I could just eat you out."

"...you mean 'up'?"

"That, too."

"Oh, Jesus..." She really should have been trying to put a stop to this, Laura knew. She just... kind of didn't want to. Carmilla wasn't actually _doing_ anything beyond talking, and Laura hadn't made any efforts to step away, so she couldn't really say she was being prevented from doing so. And, well... She liked it. The attention, Carmilla's genuine desire for her, the way she wasn't treating Laura like a delicate flower that needed protecting... If she could just get Danny to treat her that way, things would be perfect. Having her needs be split between two different people didn't seem like it would lead anywhere good.

"I told you, Laura, I've never lied to you. I'm not going to about wanting you. Oh, the things I want to do with you..."

"Such as?" she asked, a husky tone in her voice. If nothing else, she rationalized, she'd get some ideas for things to suggest to Danny.

So, mouth close enough that her breath was tickling Laura's ear in a surprisingly arousing fashion, Carmilla told her. A few things Laura didn't quite understand, but the rest...? Her hands twitched, clenching fistfuls of Carmilla's jacket, and she started breathing harder. Her libido didn't care who it was with, as long as she got to do at least _some_ of that. "Why can't I ever get the person I _am_ dating to look at me like you do?" Because while Danny was her first serious relationship, Laura had dated other girls.

"Maybe it's not considered 'appropriate' in this day and age, I don't know. Maybe it's my decades in America. Maybe it's that I'm old enough to know what I want, and don't waste time by pretending otherwise." She pulled back and looked at Laura, an openly carnal look in her eyes. "All I know is that anyone who turns you down about that sort of thing doesn't deserve you."

Laura swallowed hard in a futile attempt to get some moisture back into her throat. "I've got to admit, having you around does wonders for my ego."

Carmilla didn't break eye contact. "I can do a lot more for you than that."

Laura believed it. Her body was still humming like a live wire just from Carmilla's words. If Laura actually let her act on them... "I don't think Danny would appreciate that."

"You're not just an extension of Danny," Carmilla said, drawing close enough that her breath was warm against Laura's lips. And she shouldn't have been thinking about Carmilla's lips in relation to hers, she knew. But she was. A lot. "You are your own person. And I'm telling you, in no uncertain terms, that if she can't give you what you need, I can, and will, if you say the word." Carmilla's hand left her hip to drag her nails down Laura's back. Not enough to hurt, but Laura _definitely_ felt it, and it said as clear as anything that Carmilla would _not_ treat her like a piece of glass that would shatter if someone so much as looked at it funny. They were close enough that Laura would only have to shift her position forward a minuscule bit to kiss her... and almost did, before she caught herself.

"Well... Maybe the idea that other people are _that_ interested in me will help me finally get through to her," Laura managed. It took a bit of effort, but she quelled her hormones enough to disentangle herself from Carmilla, who didn't resist in the slightest. (That she knew when not to push after making her point actually made Laura feel better about her. As Bree had told Kirsch when she threw him out of their room, no meant no.) "She's gonna be back, soon, so you might want to get going. Maybe find a snack - without assaulting one of my classmates, I mean." It took her a moment to remember encouraging a vampire to go 'get a snack' needed to be done cautiously. "Let me know if you find anything or not?" She paused. "Oh, um, you can use the door, you know. If that would be easier for you."

"I don't plan on walking to Silas, but thanks." She strolled back to the window - and dammit, her jeans really _did_ show off her ass magnificently - and opened it, bringing one foot up onto the sill like she planned on just jumping out. "See you around, Hot Stuff." Then her form shimmered and blurred, and in a rush Carmilla was gone, with a bird in her place. Without making a sound, it launched itself into the air, swiftly arcing up and out of sight.

Laura's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, wow," she said softly to herself as she shut the window. Yeah, Carmilla had said she'd done a lot of shifting, but to see it like that... She knew about the legends that said vampires could turn themselves into wolves and bats and the like, but for some reason, she'd never even thought of asking Bree about them. Well, that would give them something to talk about later, she decided.

Because with Danny likely hovering around her at every available opportunity, she sure as hell wasn't going to be mentioning any of _this_.


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Before she could really get started on anything else, Carmilla's first order of business was to get some blood.

As she'd told Laura, the more she used her abilities, the faster she burned through her energy. The sun being up or down didn't make _that_ much of a difference, she supposed, at least not when she was already as hungry as she was. Still, she wasn't going to be able to do much more shifting before she got so hungry that she just attacked whatever warm body was closest. The BPRD, naturally, would _not_ be terribly pleased with her if she did that. Nor would Laura, though, naturally, her opinion didn't matter quite as much as that of the people Carmilla had known for seventy years. It probably shouldn't have mattered at all, yet... it did.

She was honestly kind of surprised by that.

She didn't dare approach the young woman again without feeding, though. She hadn't been kidding about how good Laura had smelled to her. The odd combination of overly sugary AB+ blood lurking just beneath her skin and pent-up _**need**_ (the Cupcake's frustration had been all but boiling over even before Carmilla had arrived) had been absolutely intoxicating. It had taken all of her self-control to hold back, especially when Laura's scent and body language had been urging her forward, full speed ahead. It was entirely possible that, if not for the fact that Lawrence would have been back before long and would have walked in on them, things might have gone _**very**_ differently.

Laura would have regretted it, though. Not then, perhaps, but later, when she'd come back down to Earth. Carmilla honestly couldn't understand _why_ Lawrence would continually refuse to give Laura what she wanted (or maybe what she needed), unless hot, sweaty, passionate sex was just not something that the redhead enjoyed. (While a legitimate state of mind, it was also one that Carmilla had trouble even comprehending, honestly.) She didn't _seem_ like that kind of person, though, which made her treating Laura like a delicate flower even after Laura had told her multiple times to stop it all the more mystifying. If she kept that up... Well, sooner or later, Laura might well take Carmilla up on her offer.

Should they all live so long, of course.

She perched in a tree on the outskirts of the Silas campus and gave her avian head a good shake. _Focus,_ she told herself sharply. She was about to fly back into the lion's den; she needed to get her head back in the game.

Her first idea was to try Laura's suggestion of 'borrowing' one or more of Bree's bottles of blood. The repairs on their dorm room hadn't really begun, yet - evidently, whatever contractors Mother used either didn't work weekends, or were busy working on the damage to Milgram Lab; that comparative lower priority might well explain how repair work that shouldn't take longer than a day required Laura to move out for several - and the door had been propped shut with a stern note that said any trespassers would be answering to the Dean _personally_. Carmilla had no doubt that would be enough to scare off all but the bravest or stupidest people... and those two categories crossed paths fairly often, in her experience. The school had, at least, taped over the broken window with a heavy duty trash bag, probably as much to keep from losing too much money via escaping heat as to keep out any stray wildlife. She was able to land on the windowsill, then turn into a mist, force her way through a slight gap between pieces of tape, and resume her human form inside, though by this point her hunger was gnawing at her intensely.

The minifridge was right where Laura and Bree had left it, and just as she'd hoped, they hadn't bothered cleaning it out. It took several bottles to fully quench her thirst, and she felt a little bad about depleting her little sister's supply, but Bree could always get more if she needed to. (As Carmilla had suspected, the blood wasn't human. Likely, Bree got it from the local butcher - not directly, perhaps, to maintain the cover Mother had established for her, but Carmilla knew pig's blood when she tasted it.)

Once her growling stomach had been satisfied, it was on to the next order of business: investigating Lola Perry.

She supposed she'd fallen victim to her own preconceptions where Mother's tactics were concerned. Of course she wouldn't be operating the same way she had been when she'd arranged for Carmilla to be a 'guest' at some lovely, lonely girl's home. Not only had that approach ultimately lead to Carmilla's rebellion and imprisonment - and Bree repeatedly escaping her mental shackles said that Mother's means of control was still far from foolproof - but times had changed. Back then, it hadn't mattered if the families of the girls had realized that Mircalla (or whatever anagram she'd been using at the time) and her Mother were involved, or even that they were vampires. After all, they'd had no idea where the two had come from, or where they'd gone to. That was why varying their hunting ground had been important, to keep anyone from noticing any patterns, and learning enough to pose any kind of threat. Setting up a school to take the girls from... It would make things easier, to be certain, but that also meant they had to be more discreet. The missing girl's roommate would be the first suspect, and if they just did that for all five, people _would_ notice, and the student body had already proven willing to riot over much less serious matters. If they were able to convince enough people in town to act, as well, all the vampiric mesmerism in the world wouldn't have been enough to stop it. Someone like Perry - someone kind and caring, with access to everyone but no direct connection to any of the girls - was perfect. Who'd suspect the den mother of Laura's floor, if not the whole dorm?

(Ironically, Laura herself would have made for a better suspect. She was Spielsdorf's roommate, and had been one of the last ones to be seen with the girl. Even her investigation could have been seen as a distraction, leading the school's attention as far away from herself as she could manage, while turning up no solid information herself. Had the school not so obviously given her the runaround when she'd first begun calling to try and get someone - anyone - to do something, and had they not further ruined things by assigning her the world's most honest vampire as a replacement roommate, Mother might even have reserved that option as a fallback plan. Though, for all Carmilla knew, she _had_ done some such thing in the past, and it either hadn't worked out quite the way she'd wanted, or she didn't want to repeat herself too soon. After all was said and done, the BPRD was going to have to go through Silas's records, get a thorough view of the past sacrifices.)

While Armitage hadn't been able to provide much in the way of information about the weapons Mother had told Laura about or much of anything related to the infected girls - unsurprisingly, she hadn't exactly written much about them down where anyone might conceivably find it, though a few pieces of anecdotal evidence had been forwarded to the BPRD for further research - he had at least been able to pull up the student files on Laura's circle of friends. They also held remarkably little information, but that was hardly a surprise. Room numbers and class schedules were enough to get started. Perry had arranged to have her classes as early in the day as possible to make sure that she would be available in the afternoons and evenings, should any students be having issues. That also meant that, as far as school records were concerned, she was unaccounted for when each of the missing girls had disappeared... except Natalie, thanks to Laura inadvertently making sure she hadn't been able to escape notice. Instead, Natalie had wandered off on her own, while Will's botched attempt at taking Sarah Jane had kept people from looking for her _too_ hard, until it was too late.

(Carmilla also wasn't overly familiar with the administration and chain of command at Silas, but she was pretty sure Floor Dons weren't supposed to be chastizing _Teaching Assistants_ \- particularly ones that didn't even live on campus, never mind in their dorm - about making up stories so they could stay in bed with their girlfriends. That Perry not only did, but no one found it at all odd, further emphasized that there was something distinctly off about Lola Perry.)

Not all of the upperclassmen had single rooms at Silas, of course, but RAs typically did. (So did LaFontaine, but as Carmilla understood it, that was more from everyone else wanting to be out of range of any potential fires and/or explosions.) It was early enough in the day that anyone who was awake was already off in their classes, so she only needed to mist her way under the door of Laura's room. After that, she was actually able to just walk down the hall to Perry's room and pick the lock. (She _could_ have used her powers to get in there, too, but she didn't _need_ to. Besides, she liked to stay in practice when it came to skills like that, and this way, if Perry noticed anything amiss, there would be evidence of a more mundane method of gaining entry.) Perry's room was every bit as clean and carefully organized as Carmilla had expected, she found as she slipped inside and shut the door behind her. She was wearing latex gloves to avoid leaving prints anywhere, but she was also confident that she could run a finger over any surface in the room - even the bathroom - and not come up with even a speck of dirt. It was maybe a little over half the size of Laura's room, though furnished much the same: one single bed, a desk and chair (complete with bookshelf above the desk), a closet, a bureau that doubled as a nightstand, and a somewhat cramped full bathroom through a connecting door. The first word that came to mind as she looked around was meticulous. Hopefully Perry didn't _actually_ get out a measuring tape to make sure everything was just so, or she could be in trouble if she had to do any in-depth searches of the room.

Still, she wasn't there to research Perry herself, so she paid little attention to what the contents of the bookshelf or bureau drawers were, just if there was anything there that shouldn't have been. She wasn't entirely sure what she should have been looking for there - she'd never brought anything that hinted at her true nature or her mission with her when she'd been playing bait, and (blood aside) neither had Bree - but there might have been something. A souvenir she'd picked up that she shouldn't have, a list of potential targets to replace Laura with, something. (And that _was_ another thing they needed to think about: if Mother was serious about sparing Laura, even if that meant turning her, that would mean someone _else_ would be at risk of being infected and sacrificed if they couldn't stop it, and they needed to know who that was.) The contents of her minifridge were just as healthy as one might have expected, and there were no blood containers of any kind in evidence: not the small ones Bree used, or repurposed juice or milk containers. Of course, if Perry had students in her room frequently as part of her duties, and was as conscientious of a host as it seemed like she'd be, she might not want to risk that someone would see something they weren't supposed to, so that lack of a blood supply didn't _necessarily_ mean anything. (Hell, maybe those students _were_ her food supply. If she mesmerized them, and didn't take too much from any one person, who'd know?) Carmilla was starting to wonder if the search was pointless - if Perry didn't even risk keeping bottled blood in her room, why would she have any other kind of incriminating evidence laying around, instead of just keeping it at Mother's place? - when she began searching through the desk. It all seemed typical college fair... until she opened the second drawer and found a stack of notecards. Familiar notecards.

Carmilla picked them up, almost silently reading aloud, "Dear Student, your roommate no longer attends Silas University because..." Yeah, that wasn't a good sign.

She wasn't entirely sure what the duties of a 'Floor Don' were, or if there was any difference between that and a Resident Advisor (though they certainly _seemed_ to be the same job), but taking care of any official school paperwork, no matter how unconventional, most likely wasn't one of them. Or it shouldn't have been, anyway. She couldn't say for sure that Perry was the one who had been leaving the cards in the missing girls' rooms, but this certainly was what they in the investigative business called a clue.

After very carefully putting them back and closing the drawer, she continued her search of the desk. She didn't turn up anything else interesting, but didn't let that deter her. Since she hadn't brought any real equipment with her when she'd stormed out of the house, she'd been forced to head back there to pick up some supplies for use in the event that she turned up anything that warranted further investigation, and to drop off that journal for Abe to read, should he so choose. (As she'd told Laura, she'd been doing a lot of running around, and taking things _with_ her when she shifted used up even more energy. Her own blood supply was stored at Team Two's rented house, however, and she hadn't wanted to lose even that little bit of time by making an extra trip, or deplete the emergency medical supply.) She pulled Perry's computer forward, carefully placing a disguised transmitter on the back of it before putting it back. It looked like nothing more than the head of a regular, tiny screw, so even someone as detail-oriented and obsessed with cleaning as Perry wasn't likely to notice it. Now, the next time she used her computer, the BPRD would be able to hack in and copy all of her files. If there was anything of interest to be found there, they'd know soon enough.

Step Two was active surveillance of Perry. She wasn't going to confine herself to operating solely upon Laura's suspicions, but Perry was the only one of the core group that she wouldn't be able to get a good read on while she kept an eye on Laura. (Though of everyone, LaFontaine seemed the _least_ likely to be involved. Not to mention Bree wouldn't have said 'she' when talking about them.) Laura would be heading right to her first class upon arriving at Silas, so Carmilla had some time to kill either way. Perry's current class wouldn't be getting out for another twenty, twenty-five minutes, which would give Carmilla more than enough time to make absolutely sure there weren't any signs someone had been there - she'd borrowed one of the numerous charms that Hellboy kept in his coat this time, to make _sure_ that there wouldn't be any trace of her scent left behind (given that Hellboy mainly smelled like dry-roasted peanuts, she was pretty sure he carried it to keep people around him from getting hungry all the time), not about to make the same mistake twice - and find a good spot to keep watch on the building. Silas wasn't a small enough campus for even a dedicated RA (or FD, she supposed) to recognize every student on sight, but by this point in the year, she'd be likely to notice someone new walking the halls after her class got out, so Carmilla's best bet was to resume her avian form and find a convenient perch.

Hopefully, there weren't any avid bird watchers on campus to spot her and wonder what a nocturnal bird was doing flying around in the daytime.

She made it to the General Class Building with time to spare, taking a moment to be grateful for the lack of surveillance cameras around Silas. (Granted, that lack was probably due to Mother wanting to make sure there was as little evidence of her 'children' being up to no good as possible, but it was serving her purposes now.) If she were to judge solely on what she saw as class was dismissed, Perry was a polite, sociable morning person, who was always ready with a piece of good-natured advice, whether you wanted it or not. In other words, exactly the sort of person Carmilla would have hated having around, if they'd had to live together. In the short term, though, she could handle dealing with the girl as much as she had to. She watched Perry leaving the building... and would have frowned, had she possessed lips right then, because Perry wasn't going where her schedule said she should have been going. She wasn't even heading for where LaFontaine happened to be just then, which Carmilla wouldn't have been terribly surprised by. Instead, she was walking toward Rosetta Hall... and shooting the occasional nervous glance around her. If Carmilla hadn't already been interested in what she was doing, she would have been now. Perry was moving quickly enough to make it clear that she knew exactly where she was going, which was odd, given that she had no language classes on her schedule at all. Not this year, anyway, though it was always possible she'd taken one during one of her previous years at Silas. Still, going to say hi to an old classmate or something wouldn't have her acting so twitchy, Carmilla decided as she leapt into the air and circled around to find a perch with a better view.

There was someone waiting for Perry in the shade off to the side of the building. He looked like an upperclassman, and Carmilla didn't recognize him, but neither of those facts really meant much. She could easily be mistaken for a student herself, after all. He was about five-foot-nine, average build, with short brown hair and a pair of black sunglasses that she felt confident were hiding a pair of equally brown eyes. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a crimson autumn jacket. By contrast, Perry's wool coat hung down to her mid-thigh and was only was only one or two shades darker than her tan slacks. (For someone who ostensibly didn't care about fashion, Perry clearly at least knew how it worked.) To Carmilla's frustration, there were no trees any closer than the forest that surrounded three sides of the campus. She couldn't just land nearby and observe them, either; thanks to the 'frog scouts' that the frog men had employed, any animal - no matter how harmless it seemed - that was paying more attention to its surroundings or was somewhere that it simply didn't belong _would_ be noticed. While that was a good thing in terms of the student body's continued well-being, it didn't really help her. She contemplated finding an unobserved spot to land and shift back into her human form, as she wanted to get a picture of the guy if she could, to identify him later, but there wasn't time for that right then. With no other option, she landed on the edge of the roof of the building and stared down at them as best she could. There was enough ambient sound in and around Rosetta Hall that she might have had a hard time hearing any conversation they might have had, but fortunately - well, sort of - they didn't say a word. Perry reached into the blue canvas bookbag she had slung over her shoulder and withdrew a manila document envelope. (The BPRD used the same kind in their officework.) She handed it to him, and he opened it, quickly scanning through the contents. (Vampires had great eyesight, but that didn't include a zoom feature, so Carmilla couldn't see what any of the papers said, despite being almost directly overhead.) Evidently satisfied, he closed the envelope and secured it within his own brown, faux leather bag. He then took a white business envelope out and handed it to Perry. She wasn't nearly as smooth or confident as he had been while examining its contents, she was just as fast. It was still long enough for Carmilla to see that it was full of euros. Unlike American dollars, the various euro bills were distinctive enough that she could tell they were all two hundred euro notes, and if she'd counted accurately, the man had just handed Perry four _thousand_ euros. Perry nervously stuffed the envelope in her bag and immediately walked off in the direction of the main gate, likely heading straight to the bank to deposit her "gift". Her contact, on the other hand, nonchalantly started off down the path that circled Scylla Lake.

Carmilla briefly hesitated, torn. She very much wanted to corner and question Perry, as she was now fairly certain the young woman was up to no good. (There was no way Silas paid their Floor Dons _that_ well.) On the other hand, she didn't want Perry knowing they were onto her, as they might be able to learn more through continued observation. She decided instead to follow the guy, as she still needed to get a picture of him, and, if possible, sneak a look at whatever was in that envelope that Perry had given him. Carmilla couldn't be sure that he worked for Mother, as she typically employed more direct means to keep her underlings under control. On the other hand, if, as she suspected, _Perry_ was working for Mother, she might have been acting as an intermediary. If so, finding out just _which_ bank account that money was deposited into could prove helpful.

Carmilla flew in uneven circles, varying her pattern as much as she could to keep anyone from noticing her without losing sight of her target. He seemed to be heading toward the Robespierre Building. As she recalled, that was the Silas school of philosophy, making it one of the few buildings she'd actually wanted to check out once she'd gotten a good look at a detailed map of the campus. Unfortunately, the philosophy students probably also knew who did and didn't belong, which would make infiltration difficult. In the meantime, she landed near Durrel Hall, shifted back into her human form while hidden by the bushes, and stealthily managed to sneak a picture of him as he passed by with her phone. There were a few more people out and about now, so she couldn't just knock him out and search his bag; even yanking him out of sight would be noticed. Sometimes, being the one who was officially dead sucked.

Well, Hellboy and his team would be back on campus later that morning. She quickly sent Liz the picture, along with a text that described what she'd seen, and where he went. Hellboy may not have been subtle, but he was very good at smacking beehives, while others - like her - hung back to see what flew up, and in which directions. One way or another, they'd figure out who the mystery man was, and who he worked for.

In the meantime, however, it was getting close to when Laura's class would be letting out. There would be a brief window before Danny or Bree could get there for Carmilla to get her alone. They needed to talk about Perry, and what that might mean for Laura - if she didn't want to make LaFontaine keep secrets from their best friend, or didn't think they could, that would mean not letting them in on everything, just yet. Also, while she didn't want to Laura into any dangerous situations, she also wasn't going to feel comfortable letting the girl out of her sight until they'd worked out who could and couldn't be trusted on campus. She also might need _some_ kind of help if she needed to do any further investigative work, and she didn't have many other options. If nothing else, Laura's reputation as a budding journalism student would make her wandering around and asking (hopefully very distracting) questions entirely believable.

Given the way Laura had chafed at being left out of the loop and not allowed to help, Carmilla was sure she'd jump at the chance to do so now.


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

As far as Laura was concerned, if there was anything good about Monday mornings, it was her Intro to Investigative Reporting class. Not only was Professor Cochrane extremely knowledgeable in her field - and very good at making sure that not only were her students listening to what she told them, but absorbing and processing it, too - but she also had the _best_ stories. Honestly, sometimes Laura wanted to sit _her_ down and interview her, but nothing she would say would be news to her, and it would also kind of seem like sucking up.

(Laura had made a mental note early on to take some time and research the good professor properly, once her project was complete, if only to satisfy her own curiosity... though she'd since had to amend that to include the words "should I survive the current events", obviously.)

Professor Cochrane was keeping up with her project in real time, of course, though naturally would reserve grading it until it had been completed. Laura had no idea if she was in on the Dean's secret or not - hell, even Bree hadn't known the whole thing until Laura had told her - and didn't feel safe asking. Her friends had been one thing: Bree really _couldn't_ tell anyone anything, Danny would keep her mouth shut if doing the opposite meant putting Laura in danger, and LaF was considered crazy enough that even if they did tell someone, nobody would believe them. (Though Laura was pretty sure they understood the need to keep quiet about certain things, if only for the time being.) Professor Cochrane, however, would investigate further, might well share what they'd learned, and _would_ be taken seriously. The Dean might kill the Professor herself, to keep that from happening. Laura absolutely _hated_ the thought of letting Professor Cochrane down, but she didn't want to get her killed, either. Maybe Bree could find out if she was in on things or not. It wasn't like Laura _had_ to be broadcasting her journalism project, after all. If Professor Cochrane _did_ know, Laura would just need to sum up what she'd learned into one final report, hand it to her, and that would be that. If not... Well, that was where things got tricky.

Her audience already knew about the vampiric conspiracy and the parasites, but she hadn't really had an opportunity to film a new update for them recently. She was going to have to, she knew - if nothing else, the attack of the frog monsters was already too widely known for her to get away with ignoring it - but she honestly wasn't sure what to tell them. Anything the Dean had told her was out, of course, but she had _technically_ learned about Lophiiformes before that. Maybe if she just left out the terms Ogdru Hem or Ogrdu Jahad, and gave the impression Lophiiformes was just some kind of Lovecraftian monster? Anyone watching her videos already knew the vampires were abducting and infecting the girls to sacrifice them to something, so attaching a name to it - a name that, thanks to the Dean's thoroughness, no one would be able to learn anything about by researching it - wouldn't really cause any problems, she didn't think. Especially if the BPRD succeeded in finding a way to kill the thing, as she hoped they would.

Maybe Bree could find out if she could get away with doing that, too. She really didn't want to have to talk to the Dean herself again anytime soon... or possibly _ever_ again, if she could manage it.

Of course, that Professor Cochrane's class demanded so much of her attention had been welcome for another reason that morning: her thoughts, almost against her will, had kept drifting back to Carmilla. To her seductive whispers, and the images they'd conjured up. Even when doing her best to focus on what she was being taught, there had been a couple moments where she'd caught herself imagining the brunette vampire screwing her on the professor's desk, or pinning her against the wall of Danny's apartment as she'd suggested doing, and just...

Every time she'd caught herself, she'd flushed and refocused on class with every bit of stubbornness she possessed. She didn't _think_ anybody noticed, though if they did, they'd likely draw incorrect conclusions, since she'd been escorted onto the campus by Danny that morning, and it wasn't exactly a secret that Laura was staying with her while her dorm room was being repaired. And it wasn't like she'd never fantasized about Danny like that, but when one person kept saying no, while the other made it clear that she herself just had to give the word and she'd get _exactly_ what she wanted...? Well, it probably wasn't a surprise that her hormones had teamed up with her traitorous imagination. What did she have to do, she wondered, to get Danny to stop treating her like she thought Laura was made out of very, very delicate glass?

_Become a vampire?_

She felt a brief surge of amusement at the thought. Well, she supposed, that _might_ be one way to accomplish that. If nothing else, the fact that she'd be so much harder to hurt - and would heal ridiculously quickly, judging by how fast the cut on the Dean's hand had closed and then vanished - might just get it through Danny's skull that she _couldn't_ really hurt Laura. One more check in the 'pros' column for choosing that option should they fail to find a way to kill Lophiiformes in time, she supposed. As badly as she hoped they'd figure something out, she knew better than to just automatically assume they would, and 'be sacrificed or turn into a vampire' was not a decision she could afford to make at the last second... assuming the Dean really intended on leaving it up to _her_ at all. As long as Laura cooperated, there was no particular reason _not_ to, she supposed - having someone willingly offer herself as a sacrifice or voluntarily choose to become one of the Dean's "children" would apparently both be rather novel prospects, and both would also make things simpler for the Dean. If having Laura around made Bree happier, and thus less inclined toward rebellion, that might just provide a reason not to play around with her mind any more than absolutely necessary. Not that Laura wanted _any_ adjustments made to her mind, and she couldn't bear the thought that not only might she have to let Betty and the others be sacrificed, but she might also have to help reel in another five girls in twenty years time... to say nothing of whoever _would_ be the fifth sacrifice, if she wasn't.

Really, given all that, was it any wonder she tried to distract herself from her dark and depressing thoughts by indulging in the occasional fantasy about Carmilla?

Class was over, though, which meant she had nothing concrete to focus on, so she gathered up her stuff and headed for the door before she could start zoning out again, or someone tried stopping her to talk. Of all of her classmates, her fellow journalism students were the most likely to have questions that she didn't dare try to answer before she asked Bree to look into getting answers for her own. Besides, while she'd naturally grabbed another of the many, many cans of pepper spray that her Dad had sent her since she'd started at Silas to carry on herself at all times, that didn't mean she felt all that comfortable around crowds of people, just then. The sooner she met up with Bree or Danny, the better. Admittedly, seeing Danny right after imagining having hot and sweaty sex with someone else might be a _bit_ awkward, but there was nothing to be done about that. Not as far as she could tell, anyway. She could really use some kind of sign, she decided, telling her what she should do next.

She didn't even notice the door to the janitor's closet she was walking past opening until she was abruptly being yanked inside, the door silently opening and closing in the space of a second... and she suddenly pressed up against Carmilla. Bree had said vampires couldn't read minds - the Dean could _make_ her children want to tell her anything she wanted to know in a number of ways, but outright telepathy was, thankfully, not a skill she or any of her "offspring" possessed - so it wasn't like Carmilla had _heard_ her request and decided to carry it out herself. Either this was just a coincidence, or Someone upstairs was trying to tell her something.

Either way, she was currently being held by the vampire she'd been trying - and failing - not to fantasize about all morning, in the dark, with her fellow students passing by on the other side of the door, completely unaware. The potential danger and risk of discovery just made it even more exciting. "Really, with this?" she hissed as quietly as she could, struggling to keep her thoughts from going _too_ far in that direction.

"Shh!" Carmilla replied, just as quietly, not even slightly loosening her grip. "I'll explain in a minute, just hush." There was _just_ enough light coming in from around the edges of the door for Laura to tell that she was staring intently at nothing in particular, presumably listening carefully to know when it would be safe to talk.

Laura's hormones gleefully reported that they had _**no**_ problem with the current situation, and thought that Carmilla smelled _**really**_ good, so she should probably taste her skin to see if that was where it was coming from. Laura sternly told herself she would be doing no such thing... though she agreed that _something_ certainly smelled good. Without any conscious thought, she leaned closer and sniffed at Carmilla's neck. What _was_ that? Shampoo? Body wash? Maybe just Carmilla herself? She couldn't quite pin down exactly what the scent was, beyond that she liked it. Sort of earthy, yet floral. Like the aftermath of a spring rain, she decided. She absently brushed Carmilla's hair out of the way, inhaling deeply. Yeah, that was definitely coming from her.

After a few seconds, some subtle change in Carmilla's body language clued Laura into the fact that the vampire was now paying more attention to _her_ than she was the outside. "You smell nice," Laura whispered with a tiny shrug, as if that somehow excused her behavior.

"Thanks," Carmilla said huskily into her ear, a mix of amusement and something darker, hungrier in her voice... and there went her hormones again, dammit. "We can't all smell like a candy store." Before Laura could muster up more than a vague feeling of amused frustration, Carmilla's lips were placing a series of gentle kisses down the outside ridge of her ear, before sucking the lobe into her mouth and gently biting down on it. A brief flash of pain amidst that far-too-enjoyable sensation said that one of her fangs had just drawn blood-

And that was where Laura's brain checked out, if only for a few moments, because things had officially reached "I can't even" levels. Somehow, in all her imaginings (deliberate or otherwise) of Carmilla having her way with her, despite acknowledging her as a vampire, Laura had failed to even consider the prospect of being bitten... which just seemed like a woeful oversight on her part, now, and that was briefly all she could think about. She let out a quiet, incoherent squeak, eliciting a chuckle from Carmilla. A stray thought bubbled to the surface in her mind, and she latched onto it, desperate for something to recenter herself with. "So, ah, should I take it that it's safe to talk, now?" she asked quietly.

"Hmm? Oh." Carmilla gave her earlobe one last lick, then let it go and turned to focus her attention on the door again. It probably wasn't a good thing that she'd distracted the other girl that much, Laura thought, although the idea that Carmilla had been so caught up in _her_ that she'd lost track of her surroundings was actually rather flattering. God knew she'd never gotten that kind of reaction from Danny (though blowing off classes to spend more time with her was hardly nothing from someone who took their TA duties as seriously as Danny did). "Yeah, I think we're good." She reached out and flipped a light switch that Laura hadn't noticed.

Laura spent the next little while blinking furiously and grumbling curses. "Thanks for the warning," she snapped, taking advantage of the moment to extricate herself from Carmilla's arms, pretending not to notice her body's dismay at that choice. This was really neither the time nor the place for _that_ kind of thing. "Now, what was all that about?"

Carmilla offered a negligent shrug, unapologetic about momentarily blinding Laura. "I had to make sure that any other vampires that might be around couldn't track you in here," she said simply. "I've got an amulet that hides my scent, but you needed to be really close for it to cover you, too."

"Huh." That actually did make sense, she had to admit. She did remember Bree saying how she'd detected traces of a scent that didn't belong in their room after Laura had spent the night with Danny. "Do I need to stay that close?" Because she wasn't entirely against that.

One corner of Carmilla's mouth curled upward. "Well, you don't _have_ to..."

In other words, she didn't have an excuse to be doing it. Which was a _good_ thing, Laura told herself firmly. This really wasn't the time or place to be questioning her monogamous relationship status. "And the whole mini-bite thing?"

"What, that? It was barely a nip." She smirked. "I told you that you smelled too damn good. Especially when you're so, shall we say, wound up."

So her sexual frustration could potentially make her an even more tempting target for vampires? Great. It would be kind of irrational to blame Danny for that, she knew, since that was brand new information. Unfortunately, that very frustration made it difficult not to be in an irrational mood. "So you decided to tease me to make it worse? I already have Danny doing that; you don't need to get in on the act, too."

Carmilla raised an eyebrow. "Cupcake, I have repeatedly made it clear that I am ready, willing, and able to screw you silly. You're the one that keeps pulling back. If anyone's being a tease here, it's you."

Laura opened her mouth to refute that statement... and couldn't. She _had_ kind of been doing that, hadn't she? She'd been signaling with everything from words to scent to body language that she _really_ wanted Carmilla, yet every time, she stopped things cold before they could get to that point. Even now, _she'd_ been the one to escalate things, enjoying the way she could affect Carmilla, yet questioning the vampire for responding. Her shoulders slumped. "I'm sorry," she said genuinely. "I don't mean to be." There wasn't exactly a lot of room to maneuver in the closet, but she found an empty spot between a mop bucket and a machine that she guessed was used to either wash or wax the hallways, and slid down the wall to sit on the floor.

Carmilla sat down next to her. "I know," she replied fondly, reaching out and taking Laura's hand. "That's why I'm not upset with you about it. I realized pretty early on that you didn't always realize the effect you have on people, and if I'm going to be flirting with someone that I _know_ is in a relationship, I kind of deserve a little frustration of my own. Don't worry about it." She gave her hand a squeeze.

Laura wasn't sure she deserved that kind of blanket absolution, and bringing Danny into the mix just made the situation even more complicated, to the point where it hurt her brain. "So, if it wasn't to make out in a random closet, why _did_ you pull me in here?"

"I needed to talk to you without Big Red or Little Sis around." Mood quickly becoming far more serious, she went on to explain what she'd discovered surveilling Perry.

Despite her suspicions, Laura couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. "Those cards could have been planted," she offered. "I mean, if they were the only thing you found in her room, placed in a spot where anyone looking couldn't help but find them..."

"That's true," Carmilla agreed. "Anyone who watched your videos would know what they said, and notecards aren't terribly hard to print up. But if someone _were_ trying to frame Perry, they _wouldn't_ likely stop with just one thing. And unless she doesn't look in her desk often, they would have had to have been put there _recently_ to keep Perry herself from finding them first. And given what else she got up to..."

"Yeah." Laura fought down a vague feeling of nausea. Even if Perry was on the Dean's team, Bree proved that she wasn't necessarily there voluntarily, she told herself. Still, the idea that one of the few friends she'd made at Silas might have been lying to her - to everyone - all along for nefarious reasons was not sitting well with her stomach. "I honestly can't think of what she could possibly have been selling for that much money."

"Neither can I, Creampuff." Carmilla sighed, shaking her head. "Information of some kind, presumably, but about what...? We're working on tracking down the money trail, but since we're not supposed to even know there _was_ a deposit, it's kind of hard to do that without letting them know we're onto them. We don't exactly have the resources of the American government to draw upon here, and bringing Mattie in on this is risky, since she could be compelled to tell Mother anything she wants to know."

Laura frowned thoughtfully. "Can you tell if someone's a vampire or not?"

"Unfortunately, we're kind of designed to blend in, to keep our prey from noticing us until it's too late. If you know someone before and after their transformation, you might be able to pick up on subtle differences. Other than that, even we can't reliably spot each other just from observation. Not unless our target slips up and does something supernatural in front of us, anyway. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking... I mean, Perry and that guy can't _both_ be vampires, right? I mean, if they both worked for the Dean, they could just meet up in her house, or something. So if we could figure out which one _isn't_ , maybe you could mesmerize him or her, and we could get some answers that way?"

Carmilla's eyebrows rose. "Huh. You just keep surprising me, Cupcake. That's a bit more pragmatic than I would have expected from you."

"Well, you'd just be putting them in a trance, right? I mean, it would only be temporary, and it wouldn't hurt them, from what Bree's told me." Because they had discussed the subject a bit more, once Laura had gotten enough sleep to be more curious about the ability that Bree had casually revealed vampires possessed. (She hadn't had any idea how old a vampire had to be to rewire someone's brain to suit their whims, or if that was an ability she'd gained from Lophiiformes... not that she'd known its name at the time.) "From what the Dean's said, there isn't a lot of time left before the sacrifice goes down. Not that she gave me any specifics, mind you."

"Halloween," Carmilla told her. "That's one thing Mattie did manage to 'accidentally' mention. Don't ask me why then, specifically, though."

"So, we've got about eleven days to find a way to kill the unkillable monster, or - one way or another - I'm a dead girl. Great."

"It might be difficult to kill, but experience tells me it _won't_ be impossible. The BPRD's proven that time and again. We'll figure something out, Laura, don't worry." She gave Laura's hand a squeeze, making her realize Carmilla had never actually let go. It felt oddly comfortable holding her hand, so Laura made no move to pull hers away.

Her nightmare visions of the Ogdru Jahad wouldn't let her just blindly assume that things would be fine just because Carmilla said they would be, but she actually did feel better. Calmer, at any rate. A little hope went a long way. "Right. So... Um, no idea who the guy is, then?"

"Not yet, no." Carmilla didn't say a word about the less than smooth subject change. She used her free hand to pull her phone out of her pocket - evidently she didn't feel like letting go anymore than Laura did - and only somewhat awkwardly pulled up the photo she'd taken of him. "I don't suppose you know who he is?"

Laura peered at it thoughtfully. "I don't... _think_ so," she said slowly. "He does look sort of familiar, though. I've seen him around, I think, I just can't remember where." She frowned. "Where did you say he went?"

"The Robespierre Building."

"Well, it wouldn't have been there." She didn't even have any philosophy-related classes. "We could have J.P. scan through the student registry, though, see if he can find a match."

"Not to mention the faculty records." At Laura's surprised blink, she added, "Mother set up this school. There's no reason to assume she only had her people infiltrate the student body."

"Right." Of course the Dean wouldn't be so careless. What had she been thinking? "All the more reason to get moving now, so he'll have more time to look." She stood up, pulling Carmilla up with her. "My next class isn't for a couple of hours. I'd actually been planning on heading to the Library anyway, so this works out." If nothing else, Danny wouldn't freak out and come looking for her, this way.

"Maybe afterward, you can borrow that flashdrive from the Bio Major, so we don't have to run back there every time we want to talk to Wonder Librarian?"

Laura grimaced. LaFontaine. Somehow, in all her musings about Perry, she hadn't factored them into the mix at all. "I just hope Perry doesn't come up in conversation, then. I'm... not the best liar, let's say."

"Then do what Bree does: tell the truth, without saying anything you shouldn't be. You're studying to be a reporter; talking around the point shouldn't be too hard."

Carmilla's less than flattering view of the media wasn't a huge surprise, given her history of concealing her existence from the Dean. Her using Bree's actual name was a small one, though it was possible she'd just given up on finding a nickname for her, if only for the time being. (Laura hadn't missed Carmilla using _her_ name earlier, but that had been a more serious moment.) Really, the most unexpected thing about all of this was that she was being invited along to help. She wanted to ask about that, make sure it wasn't just a one-time thing, but she was afraid that drawing attention to the matter might make Carmilla reconsider. Best to just go with the flow for the time being, she decided. "Guess we'd better get going, then?"

Carmilla gave her hand one final squeeze before letting go. "Well, there is one other thing, first."

"There is? What?"

Carmilla reached up to grab her head and pulled her into a searing kiss, and Laura lost track of... Well, everything, really. It didn't last _nearly_ long enough to suit her, and she could only gape silently at Carmilla when the other girl pulled back, struck speechless. "I owed you that, from before. Come on, Hot Stuff, let's get moving."

It took Laura a minute to get her brain in gear enough to remember how to work her feet.


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

* * *

 

 

It was surprisingly warm and comfortable in the Library, which was especially nice with the weather turning colder. Honestly, if the place wasn't actively hostile much of the time, Laura thought she could get used to hanging around there. It was even cool with her having a bottle of water with her, as long as she kept it tightly capped when not drinking from it.

They weren't up in the main reading area, this time. It was late enough in the morning that there might well be students wandering in at any point, and not only did they not want to be overheard as they worked, Carmilla was supposed to be dead, so couldn't really afford to be seen by too many people on campus until she was ready. J.P. had directed the two of them through a door Laura couldn't remember ever seeing before (that it might not have _been_ there was something she didn't particularly want to think too hard about) and down a spiral staircase to a surprisingly cozy room with furniture that was mismatched enough to convince her it had been put in storage, bookcases, an area rug, assorted clutter (she was vaguely curious what all the trophies were from, but not enough to investigate them), a globe... It was kind of homey, really. She wasn't sure the Library cared when she commented on that, but it didn't seem displeased, either, which was good enough. There was also a computer desk, complete with an older-looking PC. It was running Windows 95, but J.P. was still able to communicate with them through it, which was all that really mattered.

Once Carmilla had emailed the picture to the Library - between the lack of a webcam, no connecting cables, and the computer being so old that they might not have been able to hook her phone up even if there had been one, that was the only way to get the picture to J.P. - there was little to do but wait. He couldn't scan through the files _too_ quickly, whatever precautions he was taking to keep his activities from being noticed slowing his search to a comparative crawl. It was probably faster than Laura could have done it herself - she hadn't forgotten how long it had taken to look through all the pics from the parties where the girls had disappeared, or how boring that had been - but she still felt frustrated that she was reduced to just sitting around. Again. "I really hate this," she commented with a sigh as she dropped down onto the (surprisingly comfortable) swivel chair. There had been a similar chair in one of her friends' houses when she'd been growing up - she and her family had wisely moved away from Trofaiach a long time ago, and they'd long since fallen out of touch - so she knew there was probably a term for that specific kind of chair, but she couldn't quite remember what it was.

Which was _totally_ not because her brain was still kind of scrambled from the kiss.

It wasn't like she'd never kissed anyone before. It wasn't even like she'd never been kissed enthusiastically before. She really, very much enjoyed kissing Danny... but something about this had been different. She couldn't quite pin down exactly what it was - maybe the element of danger that Carmilla carried with her, maybe the experience had been heightened by the situation she was currently in, maybe it was just that practice really did make perfect - but there was definitely _something_. Her lips were still tingling, she'd briefly forgotten what they were doing, and even now the mere thought of it got her heart racing. She was a little more grounded, now, at least, and was getting mildly annoyed with herself for having so much trouble getting past it. "For crying out loud, Hollis, it wasn't _that_ good of a kiss, anyway," she muttered to herself, shaking her head sharply.

"I'll try harder next time," Carmilla called down from the top of the staircase, and Laura winced. She kept forgetting about the whole vampiric hearing thing. At least she had a chance to compose herself before Carmilla descended back down into the room. The reason she'd been up there was that her phone's reception had been spotty at best in the basement room - Laura had been amused to find that her own seemingly obsolete flip phone had still had full bars - and she'd wanted to update her team on recent developments. (Not including the kiss, most likely.) "And you hate what?"

"Just... sitting around, while somebody else does all the work. I feel like I've been doing that too much lately as it is." She didn't touch Carmilla's statement implying she planned on kissing Laura again.

"Believe me, I know the feeling," Carmilla told her, casually strolling over to the chair and dropping down next to Laura, pressing right up against her, with an arm draped on top of the back of the chair and one leg sliding across Laura's lap. "You have no idea how hard it's been letting Hellboy and his team run around Silas while I stayed under the radar and out of sight."

"I, ah..." She coughed. "I'll bet." She paused for a few moments, then added, "Um... What are you doing?"

Carmilla gave her a faux-innocent look, spoiled by the mischievous glint in her eyes. "What?" she asked. "You can't park yourself in the cuddle chair and not expect to be cuddled."

 _That_ was the term she'd been trying to think of before. Probably not the official one, if there even was such a specific name, but at least that was one less thing to be bugging her. "I'll have to be more careful in the future, then," she said warily.

"Hey, if you want me to move, you just have to say so."

To be fair, Carmilla had respected it every time she'd pulled back in their flirtations. "Was there any update on the bank, or is it still too soon for them to know anything?" she asked instead, ignoring Carmilla's smirk when she declined to tell the vampire to remove herself. Just because she liked cuddling, and Carmilla felt _really_ nice where she was, that didn't necessarily mean anything.

"Still a bit too soon, unfortunately, though we were able to confirm that Perry headed straight to the bank to deposit it, at least. It didn't even seem to raise any flags, which suggests it's happened often enough before now to not be considered out of the ordinary."

Laura tried to ignore the twisting in her stomach as best she could. "Damn it, Perry, what are you mixed up in?" she wondered aloud.

Carmilla rubbed her shoulder comfortingly. "If there's anything we can do to help her, we will," she promised.

"I know," Laura said, kind of surprising herself by really meaning it. She sighed again, looking at Carmilla, and something she hadn't noticed before caught her attention. "Is this that charm you were talking about?" she asked, reaching up to touch a ball chain hanging from the vampire's neck she didn't remember seeing before. Though, she wasn't usually this close... which she was not going to be thinking about, she told herself.

"Hmm? Oh, no. That's in my pocket. This..." She pulled the rest of the chain out from underneath her shirt, showing an amulet that... Well, Laura had no idea what it was. To her, it just looked a small bronze disc with a bunch of lines, circles, and squares all engraved into it in a jumbled mess. "...is something I got very early in my time with the BPRD, to keep Mother from sensing me, should I happen to come within whatever her range is. The pattern is a Hulinhjálmur, which translates as 'helm of disguise'. It's a Norse magic symbol for concealment or invisibility. _Only_ from Mother sensing me, obviously, which is why I didn't give it to Mattie or Bree; Mother would know something was up if one of them suddenly dropped off her radar."

"Huh." That _would_ be a problem, though it was good to know that they actually _did_ potentially have a way of sneaking Bree out of the country, if everything went south. "Bree said the Dean can't read minds. Is that true?"

"She caught on to that, did she? Good for her. Yes, it is, though Mother wanted us to _think_ she could. Even now, that old bit of programming surfaces now and then when I don't expect it, if I don't catch myself in time."

So, she'd wanted her 'children' to think they had no secrets from her, so they'd be less inclined to try and hide things? That was simultaneously clever and horrible of her, and made Laura all the more sure that her decision to put the Dean firmly in the 'evil' category was the right way to go. "Well... Since we've apparently got some time to kill, wanna help me with my homework? I don't need the attention not getting it done would bring me, especially since we don't know which of the faculty is part of the Dean's inner circle." It was also something unarousing that would demand enough of her focus that she'd be able to recenter herself, she thought.

"Not sure how much help I can honestly be, but I'll give it a shot," Carmilla said with a shrug. "And if it helps, one of the reasons Mattie's the mayor is that she's one of the few of Mother's "children" who actually looks old enough to play the part." Which didn't necessarily mean there weren't other teachers reporting directly to the Dean about non-academic matters for other reasons, but it was unlikely any of them would be involved in anything related to the sacrifice. So, there was that, at least.

It didn't take long for Laura to realize the flaw in her thinking earlier. Her assignments weren't terribly exciting in any meaning of the word, but she wasn't quite managing to calm down as much as she wanted to, for one simple reason: Carmilla kept touching her. Even when she'd moved to the desk to use the computer (it did at least have a word processor), she wasn't safe. Carmilla, looking over her shoulder to offer suggestions, would casually rub a hand up and down her back. When she had to go get a book, she kissed the top of Laura's head before moving away. After she found it, she pulled another chair up next to Laura's, briefly reaching out to touch her arm after she sat down. Nothing provocative, nothing seductive, just little things like that. Oddly familiar, intimate gestures, like Laura imagined someone she'd been in a relationship for some time might engage in (Danny sometimes did things like that, but not nearly as frequently). It wasn't that she _minded_ , really, so much as she was surprised by it. This _was_ the most time she'd spent physically in Carmilla's presence, so she honestly had no idea if this was unusual behavior for her or not. Maybe she was just a really tactile person. "Do you do this with everyone?" she wondered, because really, why _not_ just ask?

"Do what?"

Was she playing innocent again, or did she really not know what Laura meant? "All the touching." It wasn't like she would have been talking about helping her with her schoolwork, after all.

"Hmm? Oh. No. It just feels right, with you, you know?" Oddly enough, she did. "And hey, if it gets you used to the idea of me touching you so that you don't look like you're about to burst into flames just sitting in the same chair, so much the better."

She had _not_ been that bad, but she decided she wasn't going to dignify that statement with a response. A stray thought flitted through her brain... and she grimaced, because while she'd wanted something to cool down her hormones, she hadn't quite wanted it to happen like that.

"What? What's wrong?" Not like Carmilla could fail to notice the change in her expression, as closely as she was paying attention.

"Just wondering something. It's... not a nice question, though," she warned, giving Carmilla an apologetic look.

"Those are usually the ones that most need to be asked."

That was certainly a unique way of looking at things, Laura supposed. She hesitated for another moment, then asked, "The whole getting me used to you touching me thing... Is that something you did with Elle and the others?"

Carmilla's face briefly froze in an expression that was somewhere between surprise and anguish, and Laura was about two seconds away from apologizing and telling her to forget she'd said anything when the vampire shook herself back into motion. "That's... a fair question," Carmilla admitted slowly. "It isn't a simple one, though. Times were very, very different, back then. The idea of two women being together, like that...? No one talked about it - not in polite company, anyway - and they'd certainly never admit to _having_ such feelings, even to themselves. If I just wanted a roll in the sheets, I could always visit a brothel, but... Well, I _didn't_ just want that. I wanted someone I could talk to, someone I could have fun with... and someone who cared about me. Or, at least, who they thought I was, I suppose. It wasn't like I could just mesmerize them into going along with it, after all."

"Why not?" Laura asked, before she could think better of it. Her eyes widened in horror when she realized what she'd said, and she hurriedly added, "I didn't mean-"

"No, it's okay," Carmilla interrupted. "You've never seen anyone use that kind of ability, as far as I'm aware, so you wouldn't know. When you mesmerize someone, you just put them in a trance. Just implanting some kind of suggestion isn't really something I can do, but even if I could, and only tried loosening their inhibitions and letting their natural desires rise to the surface, they'd shake it off eventually, and the mental backlash would be brutal. Given the standards of the time, not to mention how repressed some of them were, I'm pretty sure I would have driven some girls to suicide, if I'd tried that. So... To answer your question, yes, I did tend to ease the girls back then into getting used to me touching them, understanding that there was nothing wrong with it. But I obviously don't need to do that with you. And..." She hesitated for a moment. "Well, no offense, but I don't think I would have needed to put all that much effort into reeling you in. Not because you're simple, just that you're very open and direct, and you tend to wear your heart on your sleeve. It can be endearing and infuriating by turns, but I can't imagine you being any other way. If you'd been around back in the day... Well, I can easily imagine young Mircalla being entirely smitten with you in short order."

It took a moment for Laura to remember that had been Carmilla's original name. "Like Elle, you mean?" She grimaced apologetically, but nonetheless continued, "I have seen her, after all. In my dreams. I know we... kind of look alike. Especially when my hair sun bleaches. And... Elle?"

"She was actually a little taller than you, with this adorable little British accent... which naturally caught my attention, since she'd never once set foot outside of Styria. And her name was actually Eleanore. I just called her Elle because she didn't like being referred to by her full name. Her father typically called her Ellie, as I recall." Her lips twisted into a half-smile. "And I can assure you that you really aren't _anything_ alike. Oh, she was a bright young woman - which was always a refreshing find, given the poor educational standards of the day - but that's true of all the sacrifice victims. Makes sense, given what we now know about the creature they're being fed to. But... Well, she wasn't very strong. I'm sure you know the cliches about 'getting the vapours', or whatever asinine term the 'big, strong men' used was. That was her. The staged carriage wreck that lead to my arrival at her family's Schloss was almost too much for her to handle, and... Well, I don't feel like going into details, but suffice to say she did _not_ react well when she learned about my true nature. But you? You barely let Bree's being a vampire throw you, you didn't stop investigating even after Mother's 'discreet' warning, you actually figured out I was a vampire by yourself, _then_ decided to meet up with me, and actually got the drop on me. You survived being ambushed by something strong enough to knock Hellboy around _and_ fought it off. Hell, you were actually so stubborn in your investigation that you forced Mother to break with _thousands of years_ of tradition and bring you into her confidence, and it took the threat of _**the destruction of the universe**_ to actually bring you to your breaking point... and even _then_ , you're back at it the next day." Carmilla shook her head wonderingly. "I can honestly say I've never met _anyone_ like you, Laura. That you're able to inspire Bree and who knows how many others to rebellion doesn't surprise me in the slightest."

Laura was honestly at a loss for words. She wasn't sure she agreed with Carmilla's assessment of her - she certainly didn't _feel_ all that impressive, and the person Carmilla was talking about probably wouldn't have been as scared and directionless as she'd frequently been since all this had started - but she could tell Carmilla meant it. "I... Um, thank you?"

Carmilla chuckled. "Don't mention it." She paused, then deadpanned, "Seriously, don't. The guys would never let me live it down if they heard about me being so sappy."

"Fair enough." She still felt a bit awkward, though - not to mention a bit flustered, because holy crap, that had probably been the sweetest thing anyone had ever said to her. "I am sorry for making you rehash all that, though."

"Reliving my less-than-savory past is pretty much all I've been doing since we first caught wind of your videos," Carmilla said with a shrug. "Besides, I kind of owed you from when I was initially misleading you, even if I never directly lied to you personally. And, well, I like you. It's never been all that easy for me to have much in the way of a love life, even when I wasn't trying to stay off the radar so that Mother wouldn't know I was still alive, but I meant it when I said you're unique."

"Really?" Laura couldn't help but be at least somewhat skeptical. "You, centuries-old badass vampire and government agent that you are, would want to date a nineteen-year-old college student?"

"Yes." The answer was as simple as it was immediate, and left Laura honestly surprised. "I absolutely do."

"Even though the best case scenario is us winning and you going back home to America?"

"Given how often you're on your webcam, I'm sure Skype wouldn't be a problem for you, and I have a _**lot**_ of vacation time accrued."

"And the fact that I already _have_ a girlfriend?"

"I have no problem stealing you away from her." Carmilla smirked. "Blame the cat in me."

The remark threw Laura for a moment, until she flashed back to Carmilla turning into a bird right in front of her eyes. "You can turn into a cat, too?"

"A panther. It's what's most reflected inside me." Her smirk widened. "You know what they say about cats?"

"Cats are assholes?"

Carmilla considered that. "Hmm, true," she admitted, looking more amused than anything - which was really the reaction Laura had expected when she'd asked the playful (yet honest) question. "What I mean, though, is that when we see something we want, we take it." Her gaze turned unapologetically frank. "And I want you."

Laura had to admit, that did get her heart beating faster. "Well... I'll keep that in mind."

"Oh, I'm not about to let you forget it," Carmilla promised. She paused, then it was her turn to change the subject. "That party the night Spielsdorf went missing," she began slowly. "You never went into much detail about it in your videos, or on Twitter."

Laura sighed, feeling the by-now familiar anxiety caused by Betty vanishing, combined with an all-new anxiety that came from knowing what had actually happened to her, and what else still could. "I don't really _have_ a lot of detail to go into," she said apologetically. "I lost track of her... though I guess that doesn't really matter, since she'd been infected for weeks, if not months, already, so nothing would have actually _happened_ to her at that party. The end of the night is kind of a blur - let's just say I edited out some footage of me dealing with something of a hangover in the morning and leave it at that - but I was _pretty sure_ she'd come back to the room with me. I was just distracted by the noise, and the crowd, and the party fog, and... Danny."

"If you spent time with her then, why were you acting so weird after Mother called that assembly?"

"Because that was the first time we'd been alone - or mostly alone, anyway. We never got to talk all that much in Lit Class, and I couldn't exactly get her to myself at the party. Not to mention, well, you guys saw what happened at that party where Sarah Jane fell. She got sucked into Summer business pretty frequently - it was even worse back then, given how things were between the Summers and the Zetas. We only got to dance once, really - one full dance, anyway - and I... Well, I kept getting distracted by staring into her eyes. I do that, sometimes." Much as she was with Carmilla, right then. Even when she realized it, she couldn't quite break eye contact.

"And Perry was there, you said?"

"Yeah. She was working that night, so I don't think she was exactly enjoying herself - though maybe she loves her job, I don't know - but she was there. Like I said, though, she didn't know what had happened to Betty, either." Her stomach clenched. "Or that was what she said, anyway." Because it was becoming clear that Perry had _not_ been entirely forthcoming about herself. "Though, really, even if she'd seen Betty staggering away in search of whatever 'party' the girls think they're going to, she probably wouldn't have thought anything of it, given all the Jägerbombs Betty was downing. As long as she wasn't going off alone..." She shrugged. She would have loved to ask Perry about it again, but she knew she wouldn't be getting any more information if she did than she had the first time, when things had been as normal as they ever got at Silas. If Perry wasn't in on things, she genuinely hadn't seen what had happened to Betty, and if she was... Well, she _definitely_ wouldn't be telling Laura anything, in that case. "So, since we don't want Perry knowing we're onto her, I take it we'll continue to be discreet about this?" Meaning, they wouldn't be turning that part of the investigation over to Hellboy and his team, who were still doing their best to draw all of the school's attention onto themselves. At Carmilla's nod, she continued, "What's our next move, then?" Because like hell was she going to let herself be shut out of things now. As she'd made clear, she was done being sidelined. Something occurred to her, and she added, "Should we check out the other Floor Dons, too? Find out whether whatever it is that's going on with Perry is something unique to her or not?"

Carmilla considered that. "Not a bad idea. First would be tracking down Perry's mystery man, though. If he didn't just duck into the Robespierre Building to lose any potential tails, I want to know what he was doing in there. It didn't look like he was heading off to class. After that, I want to take you out for lunch."

Laura blinked. "Um, what?" she asked, not quite able to smoothly transition from one mental track to another that fast.

"A date," Carmilla clarified. She got up, stretched in an entirely distracting manner, then sat on the edge of the desk in front of Laura. "I realize you're not going to just drop someone you've been officially dating for, oh, almost a week, now, but I want a chance to prove why you should pick me, instead."

"I guess... that would be fair..." Laura managed, cheeks turning red. "We _were_ together for a while before things became official, though, don't forget. I mean, I know you must see it as being rather sudden-"

"Not really," Carmilla interrupted. "Or not unusually so, at any rate. I fought in World War Two, you know."

"You did?" Laura's eyebrows went up, and her blush receded as she was distracted by that new information.

"From the last few days of Nineteen Forty-Four onward, and only in the European theater."

"Pretty sure that would qualify as a full tour of duty."

"Yeah. Anyway, the point is, I know all about the kinds of tight bonds that can be forged in the heat of battle, especially when it involves someone like you, who doesn't do anything by halves. Spielsdorf was only your roommate for, what, a couple of weeks or so? Yet you immediately began risking your life to try and find her. Bree's been there for about as long, and you think of her like a sister. It's not like your relationship with Lawrence is unique, in that respect."

"That's... true." She'd never really sat down and thought about it like that before, though. "I've got another class before lunchtime, though, remember?" Algebra, which wasn't _hard_ , but also wasn't terribly _interesting_. "I imagine Danny and/or Bree will be checking in with me to see how I'm doing at some point, too."

"Probably." She didn't sound terribly concerned by that possibility. "How would they react to you having a panther following you around? Depending on what she's been told, Bree might be able to guess it's me, but unless Mother specifically asks, she probably won't say anything, given what she was doing in that video you sent me."

"I _knew_ I wasn't imagining that." It would be best to draw as little attention to Bree and her potentially slipping her leash as possible, though... which a giant feline bodyguard might just help with. "You know, while the concept might not be as well known here as it is in America, the school _does_ allow for service and emotional support animals," Laura said randomly. "Not a lot of people take them up on that offer, though, since the selection available is, well, somewhat unusual, let's say."

"Unusual enough that a panther wouldn't raise eyebrows among the administration?" Carmilla asked, seeing where she was going with that line of thought.

"As long as no one asked too many questions. And if I film a video with everything I learned _before_ the Dean's little infodump, I doubt anyone would have trouble believing I might need that kind of support... especially from a critter that might be able to sniff out and warn me about any frog people in their human forms, and help me fight them off." She paused. "Um, _can_ you actually...?"

"Well, I never got the chance to get a whiff of them during the attack, since I wasn't here, but I'd imagine there would be something distinctly _off_ about their scents, yes." A smile tugged at her lips. "You can be a devious little thing when you want to be, can't you? I love that in a girl."

It seemed like an oddly backhanded compliment, but it still made her feel kind of warm inside. "Also... The way your clothes somehow stay _only_ on your human form when you shapeshift... Does that work in reverse? I mean, if we got one of those little apron things for your panther form, would we have to take it off every time you shifted?"

"I've never tested it out myself, but from what I understand, it would stay on the cat, yes. Don't worry about the hows and whys of that sort of thing. Believe me, you'll be happier that way. And get less headaches."

That was probably true. Something else occurred to her, though, and she frowned. "Wait. If everything you're wearing stays on whatever form is wearing it, does that include that amulet that's hiding your scent?"

"Yes, which is just as well, as a panther that didn't smell like anything would be kind of suspicious to those around with supernaturally acute senses of smell."

"I guess. But- Oh, God, the other one that hides you from the Dean! If you've been flying around Silas..."

"Oh, don't worry about that. We realized that quickly enough, as well as the possibility of it being torn off in a fight. That's why I got this." Carmilla turned around, still perched on the edge of the desk, and tugged her shirt up over her head. Before Laura could do more than stare in surprise, eyes wide, she registered the tattoo that covered a good portion of Carmilla's back. It was definitely the same symbol as on her amulet. "It was done in magical ink, to make sure it works no matter what form I'm in," she added. "I just wear the amulet as a backup, just in case."

"No wonder it's kind of shimmery," Laura commented, reaching out to touch it without thinking. The ink was black, but seemed to somehow also be composed of a multitude of colors that she could have sworn were shifting as she moved her head. Right about then she realized that: A) she was stroking Carmilla's back, and B) the vampire had inhaled sharply at her initial touch and gone very still. It was kind of nice to be able to turn that sort of thing around on Carmilla, for once, but it also wasn't terribly helpful to their situation... and could potentially lead to other things happening if she didn't stop. Touching the tattoo could be excused, so it would really be best if she just stopped now, she decided. Maybe even apologized.

Instead, she leaned closer and gently kissed the pleasantly warm skin at the center of the pattern.

_Okay, Laura, seriously? What the hell?_

She had no answer for herself, but she did finally manage to pull back, clearing her throat. "You should... probably put your shirt back on, now," she stammered out.

"Oh, should I?" Oh, crap, there was that husky tone that got her hormones jumping, again. "What happens if I don't?" She swiveled around to face Laura, leaving her chest at eye level (and leaving Laura thankful she was still at least wearing a sports bra).

It was still a very distracting sight, and Laura couldn't quite tear her gaze away. "Nothing that'll help us figure out what's going on with Perry, or stop the Dean," she said honestly.

"But also nothing that would _hurt_ either of those things?" Carmilla prodded, moving from the desk to straddling Laura's lap.

Having a half-naked, smoking hot vampire sitting on top of her was wreaking havoc on Laura's ability to string coherent thoughts together. "That is not the point," she managed. After a pause, she added, "Besides, I'm not sure I want the Library watching... whatever might happen."

"Hmm... Point." To Laura's relief, she did tug her shirt back on... though she stayed put on her lap. "Besides, I suppose I should take you out at least once, first. Though, as much as Mother may espouse patience, one thing I've learned in my life is not to wait to go after something you want, because you might just miss your chance."

"Life is short," Laura agreed. "Potentially just eleven more days kind of short, in fact."

"Not if I have anything to say about it. Though, I'll agree, you certainly could use some hot, rough sex and no thinking for a while."

Why Danny couldn't understand that, too, Laura had no idea. "So, _you_ won't treat me like a delicate flower, too?"

"Well, I'll try not to leave too many scratches and bruises, if that's what you mean."

Which was _exactly_ the right attitude, as far as Laura was concerned. "Good to know. Also, um, sorry about before."

"Oh, don't apologize. You can touch me wherever you want. In fact, I actively encourage it," Carmilla told her, eyes sparkling.

"I don't doubt it," Laura said dryly. Still, though, if she was being _invited_ to do so... Her hands slid from where they'd been resting on Carmilla's thighs to her hips, then around to her ass... and oh, God, it was just as firm and toned and mouth-wateringly _perfect_ as Laura had imagined it would be. Carmilla could probably topple nations by just pretending to drop a pencil and bending over to pick it up. A low, rumbling noise, satisfaction mixed with arousal, emerged from Carmilla's throat, and Laura knew she was pushing things again... and she just didn't care.

"What do you want most, right now?" Carmilla asked softly, her eyes boring into Laura's.

"I want you to kiss me like you _**mean it**_ ," Laura replied, just as quietly.

"Mmm, I thought you'd never ask," Carmilla purred, then swiftly closed the remaining distance between them. Laura once again lost track of everything else, but there was one thing she was sure of:

Unlike before, this time she kissed Carmilla back, and Carm hadn't been kidding when she'd said she'd try harder this time, because Laura didn't even have _words_ for how amazing it was. She didn't even think they _existed_. If Carmilla kept kissing her like _that_ , she might not have to put much work at all into stealing her away from Danny.

Laura decided she was perfectly fine with that.


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Random piece of trivia for the day: In the Austrian German language, a flashlight would be referred to as a Taschenlampe.

 

* * *

 

 

There was a loud thud as a book about thirty and a half centimeters thick (or a foot, if she understood American measurements correctly; her early conversations with "Carmen" had prompted her to whimsically look up the conversion ratio, one day) fell from seemingly nowhere and loudly slammed to the floor right next to her chair.

Laura let out an undignified squeak, abruptly jolted back to awareness of her surroundings. She and Carmilla hadn't exactly moved, except for her hands now being tangled up in Carmilla's hair - it actually took a few seconds to get them free without hurting her - and Carmilla had her arms crossed behind Laura, her nails scratching Laura's back in an oddly feline kneading motion. (Or perhaps not so odd, given what she'd said before.) Carmilla seemed more reluctant to break off their makeout session - Laura didn't necessarily disagree, which... well, was a problem, really - but another, regular-sized book fell from seemingly nowhere to bounce off of her head. The vampire let out an aggrieved sigh and shot an irritated look upward. "Really?" she demanded of the Library. "I thought we were past this."

As if in response, the computer beeped. Laura was still reeling from sensory overload, but she did manage to scrape together the wherewithal to look at the screen. "Oh! Did you find something, J.P.?"

'Yes. I've been trying to get your attention for the past ten minutes!'

"...oh." She probably would have blushed, had her cheeks not already been so flushed. Had she lost track of time like that the first time she'd gotten to kiss Danny like that, when they were waiting for Natalie to show up for her second interview? She didn't think so, but back then, she'd known they only had a finite amount of time before they were interrupted. That hadn't been the case this time. Though, that really was no excuse for losing track of the outside world like that, especially if J.P. had been able to hear them through the Library. (That hadn't even occurred to her before, but now she was even more glad that she'd resisted the impulse to have sex with Carmilla right then and there.) "Um... Sorry about that." She should nudge Carmilla off of her lap, she knew, so that they could resume working without distraction. She just... couldn't quite get her arms to do it. Her body _liked_ having Carmilla's in such close proximity. Despite everything, she still had to fight not to give in to the urge to just start peeling Carmilla out of her clothes, to hell with everything else. What was _with_ her, today? As painfully aware of her surroundings as she was, now, she could tell that the Charm of Maugris was still doing its warm, almost-vibrating thing, so it hadn't been swapped out with a fake when she hadn't been paying attention. (Not that she'd thought Carmilla would do something like that - empirical evidence made it clear that she didn't _have_ to do anything in order to make Laura be attracted to her - but if anybody else suggested such a thing, it was good to know she would be able to immediately disprove it.) Admittedly, she'd never been so sexually frustrated in her _life_ , then confronted with someone who would be only too happy to correct that for her... Even so, she really needed to get a hold of herself. "What have you got?" she asked J.P. There wasn't anything she could do to help Betty and the others right then - or herself, for that matter - but she _could_ at least figure out what was going on with Perry. Or rather, _they_ could.

_Then_ she could ravish Carmilla to her heart's content.

'I've searched through student, faculty, and staff records, and none match the man in the picture you provided.'

Carmilla swiveled around to face the computer, though she stayed on Laura's lap. Laura, purely by reflex, wrapped her arms around Carmilla, clasping her hands atop the vampire's stomach, as if to make sure she didn't leave. She only noticed what she was doing after she'd already done it, and, after a moment's deliberation, decided that making a point of withdrawing them would merely draw more attention to her actions. Carmilla's only response was to lean comfortably back against her and affectionately scrape her fingernails against Laura's left thigh. Laura couldn't quite explain why sitting like that felt so _right_ , but any source of comfort was appreciated, now that she wasn't distracted from her thoughts enough to forget about the nightmare vision of the Ogdru Jahad burning the Earth to a cinder. "Did they all have pictures to compare against?" Carmilla asked, outwardly focusing all her attention on the conversation with J.P. "Digital photography is a comparatively new medium, and as long as Mother knew what those working for her looked like, she might not especially care if everyone else did."

'Perhaps not, but the Director of Campus Safety and Security would seem to. Since he took the position nine years ago, he's made certain to update as many records as possible, save for those whom cannot BE photographed, obviously. Even visitors are not allowed on campus without being issued temporary passes.'

"Yeah, I remember Abe complaining about that." To Laura, she confidentially added, "He doesn't really like being photographed. He's fine with video, though, so..." She shrugged. "Don't worry about filming him, if you actually manage to lure the gang back for an interview."

Which was good to know, but not really an issue, just then. "That doesn't make sense," she murmured, frowning at the computer screen. "I know I've seen that guy somew- Oh!" Maybe it was the old 'stop thinking about it, and it'll come to you' principle - if so, she was totally going to use that as a justification for letting herself get so distracted by Carmilla, should anyone ask about that - but the memory lurking at the back of her mind had finally surfaced. "The Voice of Silas! He was at the Voice of Silas, talking to someone." Anticipating the obvious question, she continued, "I was there to get more information about them, to find out whether I'd be able to join the staff this year or not, so I was making sure to pay as much attention to everyone and everything around me as I could. That's where I saw him."

"So if we go there asking questions, we either won't get any answers because someone's protecting their source, or we'll risk them writing a story of their own and letting the bad guys know we're onto them," Carmilla summarized sourly.

"It gets worse," Laura told her. "From what I saw, the Voice tends to keep physical records, as opposed to an online database. Anything digital is kept on flash drives or external hard drives that reporters either keep with them or securely lock up when they're not in use. Journalism can be kind of a cutthroat business, especially around Silas; the reporters at the Voice do everything they can to keep anyone else from stealing their story. They're also pretty biased toward the administration, so that and the fact that I went public with the missing girls so early was probably why none of them have tried that with me." Because she knew Carmilla must have been wondering why _only_ a freshman journalism student had been looking into things, prior to the BPRD's involvement.

"Joy," Carmilla groused. She sighed, then asked, "I don't suppose you at least know _which_ reporter he was talking to? We'll never be able to search _everyone's_ records without being noticed, but one person should be managable. If he was getting information from them instead of giving it, there might not be anything that says who he is, but even then knowing who the reporter was will let us gather as much information as we can about _them_ , and hopefully figure out what they might have been able to tell him."

"Um..." Laura pursed her lips, thinking. "Well, Max was giving me a tour - that's Max Patterson, one of the editors - and pointing out various people," she began slowly. "And I think..." It finally clicked. "Now I remember. He didn't introduce me to the guy, exactly, but he did call him 'Tooks', and said that nobody wanted to work with him if they didn't have to, given how unpleasant he could be when he felt like it, but since he was an arts journalist, they _didn't_ typically have to. I don't know if that was just a nickname or what, but..." She refocused on the computer. "J.P., can you maybe check...?"

'Certainly.' There was a short pause. 'There's a match in the student records: Marshall Tookerman, a Journalism major currently in his Junior year. Works for the Voice of Silas as an Arts Journalist, typically referred to as "Tooks", though I have no idea if the nickname is affectionate or derrogatory.' He pulled the file - complete with picture - onscreen.

"That's the guy, alright," Laura confirmed. If he was an unpleasant to be around as Max had indicated, that might explain why his file listed him as having a single room. "Can you access his class schedule?"

'Of course.' No sooner had he written that than the screen changed to display the requested information.

"Hmm... He's in a Sociology class for the next hour and a half," she observed. She shifted her attention to Carmilla, asking, "Is that enough time for us to get to his dorm and search his room before _my_ next class?" Which was in a little over an hour, suggesting she'd lost more time making out with Carmilla than she'd thought. She stubbornly refused to let her thoughts drift too far in that direction, though, not wanting her hormones to overpower her good judgement again.

Seriously, though, the _minute_ this was all sorted out...

"As long as we don't linger, more than enough," Carmilla decided. Fortunately, she didn't seem to realize what else Laura had been thinking about. "If we cut through the forest on the way to the West Dorms, that should reduce the chances of being seen."

"Good. I'd have a hard time explaining what I was doing in an all-boys dorm without letting on that I was investigating someone there." It was fairly common knowledge that she liked girls, after all.

"I'd have a hard time explaining who I even was."

That was true, Laura supposed. "Let's see, which building was it?" She switched from the window with Tookerman's schedule to the one for his student record. Much like her own, it was surprisingly light on details, but it did include the name of the dorm he was in. "Ah, there we go: Reuss Hall."

"Huh. Cute." At Laura's inquisitive look, Carmilla elaborated, "Theodor Reuss was one of the founders of the Ordo Templi Orientis, also known as the 'Order of the Temple of the East' or the 'Order of Oriental Templars'. It's an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Coincidentally, one of the most well-known members of that order was English author and occultist Aleister Crowley. They're actually pretty harmless, as far as such organizations go. I can only guess that Mother thought she was being funny, naming dorm buildings after them."

"Um, right." There were so many questions Laura could - and wanted to - ask about that... but if she did, they wouldn't have time for anything else, she knew, so she set the subject aside for the time being. If Carmilla really did intend on pursuing a long-distance relationship with her, they'd certainly have plenty of time to talk about such things later. (And, of course, if she died, it really wouldn't matter at all.) "Anyway... J.P., do you have access to any plans or blueprints for that building? Is there, like, a side door we could sneak through?" If it was anything like her own dorm, the front door would lead to a lobby, complete with a security guard, which would be a no-go for obvious reasons.

'Emergency exits only, I'm afraid,' he reported, which also matched her dorm, meaning those doors would all have alarms. 'There is, however, a basement entrance.'

"Say what, now?" she asked, confused.

'There are miles of tunnels underneath the Silas campus, interconnecting most of the buildings,' he told them. 'I can print you up at least a basic map of them.'

"Make that two copies, and you're on," Laura replied, because she was pretty sure Carmilla would want to be taking that map with her when she went back to the BPRD, but that was something she was pretty sure would come in handy for her, too, now and in the future. "Do any of them connect with the Library?" It really would be so convenient if they didn't have to go outside at all.

The old printer on the desk hummed and buzzed to life even as J.P. wrote, 'No.' Before she could get too disappointed, he continued, 'However, the Library can connect to any of them.'

"Huh?" She blinked, trying to sort that one out. "So... What, the Library is some kind of tesseract, or something?

'Without delving too deeply into the quantum physics or multidimensional mathematical systems it would require to even begin to understand the Library's transcendental nature... Yes, essentially.'

Laura considered that for a few moments. " _ **Cool**_ ," she ultimately decided. Looking up at the ceiling, she addressed the Library directly, saying, "I think you are now officially the _**best**_ thing at Silas."

She liked to think it appreciated that, though odds were that it hardly cared about one Freshmen's opinion of it.

"And how helpful is it willing to be?" Carmilla asked, picking up one of the printouts and studying it for a moment before returning her gaze to the computer screen. "Opening a side door into the tunnels would be very convenient, and I'd appreciate it, but would that just be a one-time thing? You've never given us any indication as to how it feels about Mother and her regime, or if she's any kind of threat to it."

'The Library holds no particular love for the Dean. Indeed, I believe much of its hostility toward students is an attempt to drive them away from the University. As such, it would be willing to provide discreet assistance... and truthfully, I don't think there are many overt actions it could engage in, unless the Dean chose to enter the building.'

"True enough, and I'll take whatever help I can get."

"Wait," Laura interjected. "All this time, you've been trying to make us leave to _save_ us? That is... bizarrely sweet."

"Well, hopefully once we take care of Mother and the giant whatever-it-is, it can start playing a bit more gently with the student body. In the meantime, we need to get going," Carmilla said, rising to her feet... and unintentionally bringing Laura with her when the latter didn't let go in time. She shot Laura an amused look, but thankfully declined to comment. "We've only got so much time to do this in, especially if you want to also stop by the Student Healthcare Center." That being where they might acquire a service animal apron, as well as any paperwork they might need to convince people Laura's comfort and/or guard panther was legitimate.

"Right." Laura gave her head a good shake, then quickly collected her belongings and stuffed them back into her backpack. One final check to make sure she hadn't missed anything, and she was good to go.

A door off to the left of the desk opened of its own accord, revealing a darkened tunnel carved out of the earth. Before Laura could even bemoan their lack of any kind of flashlight or lantern (and why hadn't she realized the system of underground tunnels that nobody was supposed to know even existed wouldn't be equipped with any kind of lighting system?), Carmilla pulled out her iPhone and activated its flashlight app. Laura made a mental note of that. Not that Carmilla was prepared for such things - though she did appreciate that sort of thing - but the multifunctional utility of the phone. Maybe if she mentioned things like _that_ to her Dad, he'd be more inclined to get her one? Or at least chip in on her planned iPod upgrade? After all, what if the power went out or something, and she didn't have a flashlight on her?

She followed Carmilla into the tunnel, hiding a smile.

 

* * *

 

 

Navigating the tunnels beneath Silas proved to be somewhat tedious (particularly when she'd just been engaged in a _much_ more enjoyable activity), but having a safe and secure way to get to wherever she needed to go more than balanced that out. Or comparatively safe, anyway, as this _was_ still Silas. Who knew? Perhaps they'd run across a contingent of mole people if they stayed down there long enough.

That lead to the idea of Laura trying to interview them, or some such thing, which was amusing enough that she almost hoped such an encounter _would_ happen.

Still, it wasn't _too_ bad, Carmilla reflected. The system of tunnels had been carved out of rock, rather than dirt (which wasn't a surprise, as otherwise, Silas would have collapsed by that point), and were laid out in an organized pattern, with intersections or branches having straight, distinct lines, rather than sloppy curves. After the nightmare labyrinth of that giant beehive back in the 80's, she very much appreciated that. The tunnels themselves weren't exactly spacious, but they weren't cramped, either. Between that and the lack of dirt, she didn't think she was in danger of having any flashbacks to the coffin. Those had stopped a long time ago, for the most part, but every now and then, one could sneak up on her and catch her by surprise, if circumstances were right. Not being alone in the dark and quiet also helped.

So, while she was in no danger of anything resembling PTSD kicking in, there was no harm in starting a (quiet) conversation, if only to make sure it stayed that way. Besides... she liked listening to Laura's voice. "You doing okay back there?"

"Wh-? Oh. Yeah, I'm... I'm fine," Laura stammered.

Carmilla might have thought she was just startled by the sudden question after a couple of minutes walking in silence - and that probably _was_ a factor - had she not been able to smell the by-now familiar hints of a fresh surge of lust from Laura. "You were totally staring at my ass just now, weren't you?" she realized, amused.

"It's worth staring at," Laura defended, clearly having learned by then that there was no point in even pretending to deny such things, and Carmilla could almost _hear_ her blushing. She chuckled, and Laura hurriedly changed the subject. "I don't get it, though, you know? I mean, what do some random guy who apparently has a crapton of money, an arts journalist, and a Floor Don have in common?"

"Yeah, that's a mystery, alright," Carmilla agreed, letting her off the hook for the time being. "But you're studying to be an investigative journalist, right, Lauronica Mars? You must enjoy solving mysteries."

"I do, but... Books and shows don't usually hurt me, unless I'm _really_ invested in the characters. And we don't exactly have a lot of clues toward solving _this_ mystery, yet."

"And no skipping to the end to see whodunnit?"

Laura made a vaguely indignant noise. "I have never done that in my entire life, thank you," she objected, swatting Carmilla's arm.

"Noted." At least Laura couldn't see her smile. "What does an 'arts journalist' cover at Silas, anyway? I wouldn't have thought there was enough going on in that field to warrant assigning someone to cover _just_ that."

"Hmm..." Laura sounded like she was puzzling over the question in her mind, and it did make sense that she wouldn't have picked up on all the intricacies of life at Silas in her short time there. "Well, it's not exactly within my sphere of interest, but I have read through past issues of the Voice, so while I didn't really know who he was, I _do_ know he's one of the few reporters on staff who also tends to cover things or events not happening on campus. I mean, their website and Twitter account link to news stories all over the world, but that's different. He's more of a columnist than journalist, in my opinion, but I guess they can call him whatever they want. Aside from music or movie reviews, I think his on-campus stuff tends to be about whatever production the theater students are putting on at the time, the latest concert by the school band... or Bree's nemesis, the Glee Club." She was audibly smirking with that last one.

It took Carmilla a moment to remember that one of Laura's earlier videos did have Bree assaulting the group singing under their window with water balloons. "So that was deliberate on their part?"

"It wouldn't surprise me. She's never said as much, but I asked around after that, and they seem to have had a number of run-ins over the years. No idea what started it, but..." Carmilla could hear the shifting of fabric indicating she'd shrugged. "Anyway, no apparent crossover between any of that and the duties of a Floor Don. I mean, yeah, there's more to Perry than just her job, but unless she was selling some of her recipies, I don't see what she could have been giving that guy that _wasn't_ school-related." She paused. "Admittedly, her food _is_ ridiculously good, by all accounts - I haven't been here long enough to have been offered any baked goods - but still..."

"True." Though, the idea that Perry might have been selling information that had nothing to do with the students in her care, or even the school itself, was one they might want to consider, if only to be properly thorough. "Maybe it's related to all the time she spends around the Bio Major. She could have printed up the results they got back for the tests they ran on the parasites, the frog monster remains... even Abe's blood sample."

"Maybe." Laura sounded uncomfortable. "She hangs around with LaF for more... personal... reasons, though." She didn't elaborate.

She didn't really need to. Hellboy had told Carmilla all about what had gone on at the party before they'd left with Sarah Jane, and what Laura had just said provided the missing bit of context to explain her actions regarding Perry and LaFontaine. Given that she'd never said anything, it was clear that the two still weren't together. "And you think your encouragement of that is why she never reeled you in for Mother?" She'd basically said as much earlier that morning, but hadn't specified just who the other half of that equation was.

"I know it's thin, but... Well, like you said, the idea is to _avoid_ detection, and I can't think of anyone who'd be _less_ suspicious than Perry. Everyone else involved is either too close, fascinated by the science and determined to get at the truth, or, well, Bree. From what you've said about Mayor Belmonde, Bree doesn't seem to get along with _any_ of her siblings all that well, even if she _really_ didn't like Will. Perry's the only one of the group that I've never seen her be sociable with - or even really try. Not that I'm around her twenty-four/seven, or anything..."

There was also that. "She and Perry are also the only ones who didn't put any effort into helping you find the missing girls, aren't they?" Carmilla realized. "Bree didn't because Mother didn't want her to, obviously."

Laura sighed. "That's... Yeah. I mean, Perry _did_ introduce me to Natalie and Sarah Jane, but that... didn't exactly help much. Not that there really was anything she _could_ have been doing... Wait a minute."

She stopped walking, and Carmilla paused, turning back to look at her (though making sure to keep the light aimed at the floor to keep from blinding her again). "What?"

"I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but... Well, you know she tried to warn me about the Dean coming to see me on the day you guys first got to town, right?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I don't remember her _leaving_. I'd thought I was just too distracted by meeting Hellboy and Abe - and what they had to say about Bree - but... Well, you must have watched that video. She'd moved to stand off camera, didn't leave with the Dean or when I invited them in to talk, and never showed up on camera again. I edited out a lot of footage before Bree got back, but I never bothered actually shutting my camera off, since I didn't know when that would be. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention - God knows I was _very_ distracted by everything I'd just learned... and Danny - but I don't remember seeing her leave in any of that footage. She just... wasn't there, anymore. Until you said that thing about traveling as a mist, I didn't think there was any other way she could have left, and I'd already deleted the video by the time I even remembered Perry had been there."

"Huh. Interesting." Without the missing footage to prove it one way or another, that wasn't a smoking gun, but it was definitely one of the more potentially supernatural actions Perry had engaged in. "Hellboy and Abe didn't say anything about her, aside from what you already said about her trying to warn you. I doubt she would have chanced anything with them in the room, but I'll have to check with them later. Maybe they heard her leaving, since I know Abe, at least, would have closed the door behind them."

"He did," Laura confirmed.

"I suppose it's also possible, if Perry _is_ a vampire, that she mesmerized you so that you wouldn't notice her leaving... though I honestly have no idea why she'd bother. All she'd really done at that point was warn you about an impending visit from Mother and stay out of the way during the conversation that followed. Just quietly walking out the door would have been the logical move no matter _what_ her allegiances or motivations were."

"Right... That would make sense." Laura looked faintly troubled by the possibility regardless, and Carmilla almost regretted even bringing it up. She wouldn't have hesitated to with any of her team, though, and she knew how much Laura hated having someone 'protect her' from things. She'd be doing the girl a disservice if she didn't suggest every possibility, no matter how remote. "Heck, maybe there's a way to try and salvage the deleted footage, so I can know what happened, one way or another." She paused for a brief moment. "Hey, what would happen if you tried mesmerizing me while I'm wearing the bracelet?"

Carmilla blinked. "What?"

"Oh... Yeah, my brain tends to jump conversational tracks with little to no warning," Laura told her with a slight apologetic shrug. "If you really plan on sticking around after all this is over, you're gonna have to get used to that."

"I think I can manage that." And she liked that Laura was now acknowledging the possibility that she'd survive the ongoing crisis, even if she wasn't necessarily convinced of it. "And as far as I know, it just... wouldn't work. Why?"

"Can you try? I want to see if there's any difference in how the Charm usually feels. If there is, I might be able to tell if anybody else is - or was - trying it. I was going to ask Bree later, but I'm not sure she'd say yes, and you're here now, so..."

"Hmm. Clever."

"I have my moments."

Carmilla smirked, but declined to comment on that. It had been a while since she'd done this - since she'd _needed_ to do this - with anyone, but she'd hardly forgotten how. She stared into Laura's eyes, reaching out with her mind to try and place the girl into a trance... and couldn't. She'd been expecting to hit some kind of impenetrable wall, but instead there was just _nothing_. She might as well have been trying to hypnotize the empty air, for all the good it was doing. She reached up to touch Laura's face, curious to see if that made a difference. She could physically feel the girl just fine, but her power just slid right past her without the slightest ripple. "Weird," she commented, lowering her hand and ceasing her futile efforts. "It's like you're not even there."

"So it functions like some kind of telepathic cloaking device," Laura mused. "No wonder Bree was confident it would block out the dreams."

"Yeah." Which was nice and all, but not really the point of the exercise. "So, anything?"

Laura shook her head. "Zilch. Bree did call giving me this overkill, though, so maybe vampiric mesmerism is just too _small_ to cause any kind of external sensation."

"Maybe." She shook her head. "C'mon, we need to get moving."

The rest of the trip was accomplished without much in the way of conversation, save for Laura quietly grilling her for details about her phone, and any apps one could download onto it that help convince her overprotective father to buy her one. Fully approving of her taking every advantage she could get, Carmilla was only too happy to cooperate. Besides, she liked it when Laura got all sneaky like that. It was, well, kind of a turn on.

Time enough for _that_ later, though.

At the end of the tunnel, they found a ladder leading up to a metal hatch. Carmilla went first, on the basis that she'd be more likely to hear any trouble coming in time to do something about it, and found that not only was the metal free of rust, the hinges were completely silent when she opened it. It figured Mother would be taking good care of those particular entrances, she thought sourly. As promised, they emerged into the basement, which was mostly dominated by the furnace and multiple water heaters. Idly, she wondered if there was one for each floor, then dismissed the thought as irrelevant. The lock on the basement door was naturally on the inside, so as long as they weren't seen and locked up behind them, no one would ever know they'd been there. She listened carefully at the door, but didn't hear anything nearby. It wasn't silent, of course - she doubted a college dorm was _ever_ silent when the school wasn't closed for the summer, particularly a boys dorm - but as far as she could tell, the immediate area was empty. She carefully opened the door - its hinges were _also_ well-oiled, surprising her none - and peered out, confirming the coast was clear. That done, she and Laura quickly but quietly snuck toward the nearest staircase. Tookerman's room was only on the second floor, fortunately, but it was in the middle of the floor, with no cover to duck into should someone abruptly exit their own room.

Nothing to do but get inside as quickly as possible, Carmilla decided. Misting under _one_ door wouldn't burn up an unreasonable amount of energy, though if she had to also keep shifting between human and panther later, things could get uncomfortable after a while. Still, it would be the fastest way. She leaned against the wall near the door, listening carefully to make sure no one was walking toward their door. They weren't, so she turned back toward Tookerman's room... and paused, eyebrows shooting toward her hairline, as she saw that Laura had dropped down to one knee in front of the door and was manipulating the lock with a set of picks that she'd evidently had in her backpack. It was a complete, professional-looking set, and the confident way Laura was manuvering the torsion wrench and the hook pick suggested she knew _exactly_ what she was doing, an impression that was backed up by the fact that she had the door open in well under a minute. "Thank goodness for cheap locks," she murmured, quickly putting her tools away and getting up to slip inside the room.

Carmilla followed her, quickly but silently shutting the door behind them. "Explain," she said quietly. Unless there were other vampires around - a possibility she wasn't about to ignore - they probably wouldn't be overheard if they spoke normally, but why take chances?

"My Dad's so smothering I had to learn how to get past whatever he secured the good stuff with while I was growing up," Laura whispered with a shrug, smiling ever so slightly. "Besides, investigative journalist, remember? That means getting into places I'm not supposed to be, sometimes. The picks were a gift from the editor of my high school newspaper after my first real story. I'd think about joining the Silas Locksport Club - assuming there even _is_ one - but then people would know what I could do." She raised an eyebrow. "How did you think I'd gotten into Natalie and Sarah Jane's rooms to collect those parasite-filled goo samples I talked about in that video?"

"I was really more focused on the whole 'brain parasites' thing," Carmilla replied. "Honestly, as out of it as those two were, I wouldn't have been surprised if they'd just forgotten to lock their doors. Or even close them."

"True. I suppose whoever left the cards could have locked them."

A definite possibility, but not really what she was focusing on, just then. "So, you're smart, sassy, capable of out-stubborning Mother, caring and compassionate, _and_ you enjoy breaking and entering?" One corner of her mouth curled upward. "Oh, I am _definitely_ keeping you."

Amusement glittered in Laura's eyes. "I don't think you get to just decide that," she objected.

Carmilla wrapped her arms around Laura from behind and tugged her close. "No, mine," she declared.

Laura muffled her giggle as much as she could. "You are definitely a cat." She squirmed a bit. "C'mon, leggo. Work before play."

Carmilla wasn't holding her tightly, so she _could_ have easily gotten free on her own. Still, as much as she would have rather just kept holding her, Carmilla obligingly released her and stepped back. She'd said back in the Library that she'd do as much, after all, and they both knew that things could easily spiral out of control if they let them. Besides, Laura was right; they _did_ have work to do. But once that was done, and it was time for 'play'...

She allowed herself a brief, wicked grin.


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Laura would freely admit, she didn't exactly have a huge circle of friends. She'd had more growing up, but even then, close friends - the kind she might hang out with, that her Dad knew well enough to trust that she'd be safe going over to their houses - had been somewhat rare. There had been some over the years, though, and of those, at least a few had brothers. As such, while she hadn't ever been in a room in one of the boys dorms at Silas, she had (if only in passing) seen what boys' bedrooms looked like.

Tookerman's room was far better kept up than she'd expected. "I kind of expected more... debris," she remarked quietly as she looked around. It wasn't that it didn't look lived in, by any means: the bed wasn't exactly made, there were notebooks and textbooks on his desk, a couple of shirts hanging over the back of the chair, and a few posters taped up on the walls. (Posters for musicals and plays in varying languages, not just German and English.) There weren't any empty food containers or dirty plates left laying around, there wasn't anything strewn about on the floor, there weren't any odors that she might well not have _wanted_ identified...

Carmilla chuckled, handing her a pair of blue nitrile gloves which she wasted no time in putting on. (Laura did have a package of vinyl gloves in her bag for situations like this, but, while cheaper, they were also less durable, didn't fit quite as well, and weren't really meant for dealing with chemicals or potentially infectious material. Prior to coming to Silas, that hadn't really been a concern.) "Yeah. This isn't the BPRD's first time dealing with a situation at a college - though none of those were the kind of long-term mission that this one is - so I know that the 'messy college guy' stereotype has a solid basis in reality. Not that it's only guys who do that. Hell, my quarters back at HQ can occasionally be classified as a disaster area." She paused, smirked, then added, "But don't worry. If you ever decided to visit, I'd make sure to have it clean for you."

Laura eyed her. "Would you be saying that if you didn't know that my limited funds and overprotective father who'd freak if I left town, never mind the _country_ , made that almost certain not to happen any time soon, if ever?"

"What?" Carmilla asked, the very picture of innocence... assuming that picture was blurry and out of focus. "As resourceful a young woman as you are, I wouldn't put it past you to manage it, if you _really_ set your mind to it." More serious, she added, "Besides, you're nineteen. You get to decide what you do with your life from now on, not him."

"Me or the Dean," Laura muttered. Her comment killed any kind of playful mood either of them might have been in, and she shook her head, refocusing on her surroundings. "Right. Back to it." The notebooks were the obvious first choice to search through, but quickly proved to have nothing but class-related information in them. Would it be considered paranoid to wonder if they'd been left out as decoys? Possibly, but without really knowing the guy, Laura couldn't say for sure that he _wouldn't_ do something like that. There was no computer, indicating he likely had a laptop, which he'd brought to class with him. (Which, really, would be the whole reason to _have_ a laptop at college, she thought.) There weren't any suspicious notecards or bank receipts in his desk, though Carmilla mentioned she hadn't found any bank slips in Perry's room, either, and they knew she'd been making large deposits. There weren't any blood containers in the minifridge, there weren't any papers with information an arts journalist had no business having... "I really don't know what we're looking for," Laura complained after a solid twenty minutes of fruitless searching. There hadn't even been anything interesting stuffed into the back of his closet! "The Voice of Silas does print up physical copies, but from what I understand, most of their readers are online. If this guy working on a story - or is engaged in something shady - any information he'd collected that wasn't just in his head would probably be on his computer, and it's not like we can just mug him and take it."

"Well, we _can_ ," Carmilla disagreed. When Laura shot her a sharp look, she held up her hands defensively. "Hey, I'm not saying that we will, or even should," she defended. "Just that we _technically_ could, if we decided that we had to." She sighed, quietly closing the desk drawer she'd been looking through. That, clearly, was another dead end.

Laura shook her head, then resumed examining the contents of one of the three identical storage containers shoved under his bed, not wanting to get pulled into a discussion about semantics. The plastic containers were rectangular, about fifty centimeters long, but not even fifteen deep, and according to the text on the tops they were 'ideal for videocassettes', suggesting that they weren't exactly new. One of the other two had been full of an assortment of fliers, memorabilia, and souvenirs from various stage productions - apparently, however unpleasant he was, he had a genuine passion for the subject of his work, which told Laura he couldn't be all bad - while the second had contained a number of distinctly unhealthy snack foods. (It had taken considerable effort on her part to refrain from "sampling" any of them.) That he'd had that sort of thing stashed under his bed instead of out in the open where they could be eaten more readily had prompted Carmilla to wonder aloud if he'd felt that he'd needed to hide them, rather than risk judgement from Perry. Laura, having been on the receiving end of Perry's comments regarding her own diet, had refrained from comment. Perry only did that sort of thing because she cared - and what she said wasn't necessarily wrong - but it could still be easier to just try and avoid the issue altogether. But Laura had found that a lot of people were health-conscious at Silas - even Danny, though she tended to let Laura get away with eating whatever she wanted after being hit with even just a mildly pleading expression - so maybe there was a Perry-equivalent in Tookerman's dorm. Without knowing for sure, she didn't feel they could count that as evidence.

It was one more odd thing, though. Finding so many oddities, all of which could be connected to Perry... She still didn't want to believe it, but things weren't looking good for her Floor Don.

The container Laura was currently searching through held mostly a wide-range of books - many of them non-fiction, and she recognized some of the others as Silas-issued books for various classes - and assorted papers, which also seemed to be old classwork. _Very_ old, given that none of it matched his current classes. Why he'd want to hang on to _that_ , she had no idea. He could have been selling it to some of the underclassmen, she supposed, but given her current interests, a black market homework ring would be pretty small potatoes. She was trying to keep the contents from looking like they'd been too obviously disturbed, but by that point, she was starting to not care. How could someone in their third year at Silas not have anything even _remotely_ interesting in their-? Wait.

What was that?

"Hello," she said softly as she picked up one of the larger hardcover books (about the size of the last Harry Potter book, which was her personal measurement in terms of books that could double as mêlée weapons), which was slightly heavier than it should have been, and she was pretty sure she heard something sliding around inside it when she picked it up. "What have we here?" She turned slightly and put it on the floor in front of her as Carmilla, lured by the prospect of an actual clue, rose from the desk chair and swiftly crossed the room to crouch down next to her. Laura was aware of her proximity, but for once, it didn't arouse any reaction from her. She flipped up the front cover of the book and found that, as she'd expected, it wasn't an actual book at all, but a small gunmetal grey safe. A fairly high-tech one, too: not only was there a sleek nine-digit keypad, but the LCD panel was big enough for a lengthy passcode.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Carmilla said, grabbing her wrists to stop her from reaching for it. "Easy, there. I've seen this design of safe before. You only get a few tries to input the correct code before you activate the failsafe."

"What, it sets off an alarm?"

"No, it detonates a charge of PBX."

If only from a semi-recent binge-watch of Stargate: SG-1, that _was_ a term she recognized, and she twitched a few times in Carmilla's grip before almost violently pulling her arms back. "Th- I... A-A-Are you...?" she stammered out.

Carmilla leaned down and sniffed it. "Oh, yeah. I can smell the TATB - and trust me, after you get nearly blown up while clearing out a hidden Soviet missile facility overrun with the undead, you _make sure_ that you know what that smells like."

"...I have so many questions about just that one sentence."

"I'll bet," Carmilla said with a quiet chuckle. "Well, TATB stands for triaminotrinitrobenzene. The rest of them are going to have to wait until we have more time." She gave Laura a sideways look, then added, "Before you give yourself a heart attack, you should keep in mind that TATB is extremely insensitive to shock, vibration, fire, or impact. You could throw this thing against a wall, and you wouldn't set it off. Also, the charge is directed _inward_. It wouldn't exactly be healthy for anyone in close proximity, given the shrapnel, but it isn't powerful enough to even take out the room, let alone the building."

Both of which were good to know, but those weren't her only concerns. "What the crapsticks is a college student doing with something like _this_?! I mean, I know Silas is weird and all, but it's not _that_ flavor of weird!" If high explosives were readily available at Silas, she was pretty sure LaFontaine would know all about it, and there would have been a _**LOT**_ more explosions in the past couple years than there had been - to say nothing of how much more tightly wound Perry would be, were that the case.

"From what Red and the others have told me, that's true," Carmilla agreed. "Even if it was, this particular style of booksafe is _not_ exactly available to the public." She shook her head. "Hell, even if you can track down someone who's willing to sell you one, it'll cost you. Last one I saw was government issued."

"Which government?" Laura asked before realizing that the answer might well have been classified.

Fortunately, it either wasn't, or Carmilla just didn't care. "Peru, actually. They didn't come up with the original design, though. Honestly not sure who did. Not that it matters."

True enough. "So... What do we do? Track this Tookerman guy down and get the combination out of him?"

Carmilla considered that, then shook her head. "Only as a last resort. If he can't be mesmerized, there's no guarantee we'd be able to get the real combination out of him without resorting to torture, or something."

Laura's eyes widened. "I really don't think that should _ever_ be an option."

"Yeah, the higher ups tend to agree with you about that," Carmilla said blithely. "What they _are_ likely to be just fine with is taking the box to our resident psychic and letting him finally justify bringing him on this mission."

They had a psychic on their team? That was new information. "Would _he_ be willing to be interviewed at some point?" she asked hopefully. Hellboy had been visibly unenthused about the idea, Abe was apparently kind of shy (and also dealing with learning about his former identity, so he might not _want_ to talk about himself, especially to the girl who'd told him about it), Liz _absolutely_ wouldn't want to talk about her past or any missions that involved the use of her pyrokinesis (Bree had told her about how Liz had dealt with the frog monsters), Carmilla actively _hid_ from cameras to keep her 'Mother' from finding her... She wanted to interview _someone_ from the BPRD, dammit, and this seemed like her best chance. Her only other option would be that Professor Corrigan she vaguely remembered hearing when she'd accidentally called Liz after she'd been attacked, and she had no idea if the woman was even in town, or had been talking to them from BPRD HQ.

Carmilla shrugged. "Eh, probably. Not sure he'd have anything useful to say, though."

"Who would?"

She paused, as if considering that, then replied, "Let's worry about the current situation first, shall we? You can worry about earning extra credit for your journalism class later."

"I know, I know..." she sighed. She couldn't quite help it, though. The _stories_ they had to have! Even if she didn't get any credit for it at all, she would have wanted to know.

Carmilla allowed herself a brief, fond smile, as if she knew exactly what Laura was thinking. (Laura knew she didn't have the best poker face, so it was entirely possible that Carmilla _had_ guessed what was on her mind.) "In the meantime..." She took out her phone, snapped a picture of the safe, then emailed it back to HQ. (Laura presumed it would then be forwarded to anyone who needed to see it.) "I need to work out a good place to do a brush pass to give Red the box so he can get it to Thorne."

"Ooo, how clandestine!" Laura teased with a giggle, wiggling her fingers at Carmilla to emphasize her point. "A 'brush pass'. You're just giving your friend something so he can run an errand for you." Thorne, she presumed, was the psychic's name.

"Call it what you want, Cupcake, I still need a place and time."

"You know, if I had a booksafe with a built-in high explosive booby trap protecting something valuable or important enough to justify using it, I'd notice right away if it disappeared," she pointed out.

"Nothing to really be done about that, unfortunately," Carmilla said with a shrug. "There is _**no**_ innocent reason for him to have something like this, and we need to know what's inside it. Somehow, I doubt he'll report the theft to campus security." She paused. "Might be interesting to see who he _does_ tell, though." She got up and walked back to the desk, picking up his phone and prying off the back casing. She deftly inserted what looked like a tiny microchip, then snapped the casing back into place.

"Did you just bug his phone?" Laura paused. "And did you do that to mine?" She didn't wonder too much about why his phone might be there when his laptop wasn't. There were a number of teachers who did _not_ allow phones in their classrooms (if you had one, it had to be turned off; even putting it on silent wasn't good enough), and while some might make exceptions for smartphones that you could record with or take notes on, his Nokia was an old enough model that it couldn't do either. (And yet, even that wasn't as old and out-of-date as her phone.) Also, it was only half charged, and considering how long he'd been in class by that point, it must have been almost dead when he'd plugged it in.

"You had your phone with you at the time, remember?" Carmilla reminded her. "Didn't bother with your computer, either - which is just as well, I guess, as Wonder Librarian might have noticed something was amiss. With you making videos about what you learned, even if you didn't post them online, or discussing anything you didn't film with your friends, I didn't have to. Miss Perry, on the other hand..."

"Well... Hopefully that'll help us figure out what's going on sooner." Spying on her friends just made her feel uncomfortable. Yeah, she was studying to be an investigative reporter, but even journalists needed to have ethical standards, didn't they?

"That's the plan. And since I think we've now searched everywhere in this room that it's possible _TO_ look, let's get everything back where it's supposed to be and get moving."

That was fine with her. As exciting as sneaking into places you weren't supposed to go could sometimes be, this was just making her stomach twist itself into knots.

Admittedly, knowing that she was going to be walking around with high explosives in her backpack until they could get rid of it wasn't exactly helping.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Her algebra class had been as uneventful as it had uninteresting. It hadn't been _quite_ as boring as usual, though, if only due to her secretly enjoying people's reactions when she'd walked into the classroom with a black panther by her side. She'd known panthers were pretty good-sized, but she had to wonder if Carmilla's panther form was just a bit bigger than the real cats, as her head just barely reached Laura's waist. They had, by then, secured an apron and the appropriate paperwork (albeit with a few forged signatures), so her teacher hadn't been able to say anything. In response to any questions, she'd merely replied that after her recent attack - word about that had gotten around - having something around that could sniff out any frog men that got close to her could only be a good thing, and that her next video would explain further.

So she was going to have to film that video soon.

Carmilla had managed to get Hellboy's team to swing past the Student Healthcare Center so that Laura, under the guise of asking how the investigation was going, could discreetly hand over the booksafe. Hellboy and Abe would remain on campus while Liz brought it to that Thorne guy. (There was apparently some kind of multi-limbed creature in the park that the two would be hunting down. Unfortunately, they didn't have much more in the way of details to give her than that... or so they claimed, anyway.) She was _supposed_ to be being wary of them, after everything the Dean had told her, so she forced herself not to ask too many questions, and hurried off to class as quickly as she could without being rude.

Hopefully, later on she'd be able to talk to them further, make sure they were handling everything she'd said in her message alright. She still felt kind of guilty about just dropping everything on them like that without any warning, even though she hadn't exactly gotten one, herself.

She had one more class that day, but it wasn't until late afternoon, so she had a few hours to kill. As such, she wasn't exactly surprised to get a text from Danny asking to meet up with her in the Student Union. She hardly had anywhere else to be, just then, even if going to see her girlfriend after making out with another woman (who was currently following her around as a panther) was a bit awkward and kind of weird. Upon asking, she learned that it wouldn't just be them, as Bree and LaF would be there, too. Hopefully, the extra company would help her keep an even mental footing. She'd texted back, asking as casually as she could why Perry was being left out. Apparently, her Floor Don had another class right then.

Laura didn't stop by the Student Union very often. It wasn't that she didn't want to socialize, but she'd gone from settling in to dodging Kirsch and friends to dealing with the whole missing girls/vampires/frog men situation. There had been a couple movie nights she'd gone to before Betty had vanished (the building had a five hundred and fifty seat theater, in addition to several lounges complete with large flat-screen plasma televisions), she'd needed to go to the bookstore to pick up the Silas-editions of some books for her classes, and the snack bar could make an acceptable alternative to the cafeteria if you didn't have time to head into town to find something more filling. Oh, there were billiards tables, ping pong tables, air hockey tables, and gaming consoles, but she really hadn't had _time_ for any of those - or anyone to play against. If she wanted to study, she'd do it in her own room, or, if necessary, the Library. (If it continued being non-hostile to her, she might end up doing that more often.) She'd never been in any of the meeting rooms, but someone - probably Bree, given her pull with the administration - had managed to secure one. She supposed she could have let them know about her new "service animal", but, well, what would be the fun in that?

Given everything, she'd take her amusement where she could find it.

The room wasn't overly large, maybe just a tiny bit bigger than her dorm room (not counting the bathroom). The walls were a dull shade of cream, with a couple of paintings that showed landscapes that she didn't recognize. There weren't any windows, which she was sure had been a consideration when Bree (or whoever) had chosen this room. The floor had a plush, presumably sound-absorbing crimson carpet. (Actually, since it was a meeting room, she was willing to bet the whole place was soundproof.) The room was dominated by a large rectangular table, made of some kind of polished wood. (It could have been oak, mahogany, redwood... Identifying different types of wood wasn't exactly one of her skills.) There were three plush burgundy-colored leather chairs on either side of it, with one on each end. A large light panel illuminated the room, with a golden chandelier - a dome with six arms extending from the base that reached down, then curved up until they were almost flush against the ceiling light - that also had electric lights right underneath it, evidently just for aesthetic appeal.

Bree was the only one actually sitting in a chair. LaF was perched on a corner of the table, while Danny, true to form, was pacing back and forth. Whatever conversation might have been going on before she got there died quickly when they realized that not only had she arrived, but she wasn't alone. Unsurprisingly, LaF found their voice first. "Uh, Laura? You've got a panther following you."

"Yes, LaFontaine. Yes, I do," Laura agreed evenly as she closed the door behind her - after making sure Carmilla's tail was clear of it - then walking over to collect a kiss from her girlfriend. Carmilla might want to steal her away from Danny, but that didn't mean she'd done so quite yet.

"Laura, why do you have a panther?" Danny asked slowly.

"Why don't _you_ have a panther, Danny?" Laura replied without missing a beat. "Did you _forget_ yours?"

"Gonna be one of _those_ kind of days, is it?" Danny murmured.

"I wasn't aware you'd chosen to take advantage of the service animal program Silas offers," Bree interjected, looking at Carmilla with a sufficiently neutral expression to tell Laura that she _had_ heard about Carmilla's preferred alternate form, and they weren't fooling her.

"You can't be around all the time," Laura said with a shrug, mentally _willing_ her to go along with it. "Having something that can sniff out frog men _and_ scare off drunken frat boys can only be a good thing." She paused as something occurred to her. "Hey, um, Danny? Speaking of frat boys, have you seen Kirsch around, lately? Not that I miss his stalking or anything, but between his girlfriend having parasites in her brain and being taken away for her own good, his best friend being revealed as a sociopathic vampire who nearly killed her before being hunted down and killed himself, and the woman who did that walking around campus like nothing happened... Well, I'm kinda worried about the big lug, and with all the Summer-Zeta stuff, you're more likely to see him outside of Lit Class than I am." They had Lit on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so she could find out tomorrow if she had to... assuming he didn't just blow it off.

"Haven't really seen him myself, but from what I've heard, he's been kinda quiet." Danny sighed. "Look, don't tell my Summer sisters I said this, but he's not a _bad_ guy, exactly. Will was just a _**terrible**_ influence on him. Without that, though, he's kind of... directionless, I guess."

"Having someone that close to you betray you and everything you stand for can be difficult for anyone to process," Bree said, pointedly enough that it was clear she was trying to work around her mental bindings to tell someone _something_. Given what she'd learned earlier that day about Perry, though, Laura honestly wasn't sure who she was talking to... assuming it wasn't just a blanket warning. "The deeper the bond, the harder it can be to forgive."

"Honesty is the best policy," LaF agreed.

"Yeah..." Laura said slowly, feeling uncomfortable. "Though, the fact that you can't just tell me everything I need to know about who's on the Dean's team is proof that sometimes, that _isn't_ always an option."

"True. Yet, nothing was stopping Will from telling Mister Kirsch that he was a vampire. As far as I know, _any_ of us can admit to that. Thanks to you posting your videos online, he could have told Kirsch and the other Zetas the truth about himself, and who he worked for. He _chose_ not to. I know you were curious about why we didn't get along. Mother didn't recondition him as much as others of us because she didn't _need_ to. He _enjoyed_ his victims' suffering, causing them pain. Had he been given the chance, he might well have killed you just to spite me. He stayed under the radar within his fraternity for the most part, played the fool. I'll pray for his soul, but he does not deserve your pity."

Laura honestly couldn't say she was surprised by any of that. Will had struck her as slimy scum the first time she'd met him, and that impression had never really gone away. "Still, though, I feel bad for Kirsch," she maintained.

"He has an entire fraternity of bros to talk to if he needs to," Danny pointed out. She'd wrapped her arms around Laura's torso from behind, resting her chin on top of Laura's head. Laura couldn't help but compare being held by Danny to being in Carmilla's embrace, and each had their selling points. Carmilla's ears flicked back in annoyance, but she otherwise wasn't outwardly reacting. "And really, given your solidly pro-Bree stance in your videos, he might not _want_ to talk to you just yet."

"I know." That was one of the reasons she hadn't tried seeking him out herself, after all. "Hey, Bree? Speaking of people not getting along with you, what's up with you and the Glee Club?"

Bree sighed. "Ah, that. Presently, just the continuation of a decades-long grudge. It began in the year Nineteen Hundred and Four, when the Dudley Chapel burned down. _That_ is a different story altogether, but the Lustig theater building was built atop its ashes. I did not particularly appreciate this, and they, in turn, did not care for my efforts to reestablish a chapel within the building."

"Did you?" Laura asked, not knowing much about that building beyond the fact that it was full of theater students, thus a place to be avoided.

"Yes. It was never really consecrated, and few beyond myself make use of it, but they've always resented having to share their space."

"I'd like to see them complain to the Dean about having to share the auditorium with her," Laura muttered.

Bree gave her a brief, humorless smile. "In truth... Sometimes, so would I." She sighed. "Which is always one more thing to tell the priest whenever I can go to Confession."

That just seemed like a topic that would be full of landmines, so Laura decided to avoid it for the time being. "So... Not that I'm against spending time with you three, but was there a reason we're meeting here, of all places?"

"Given the number of people who want to kidnap and/or kill you, somewhere private and secure to talk just made sense," Danny told her. Laura wriggled out of her grasp and headed over to the table to drop into one of the chairs. (It was very comfortable, as it turned out. Sadly, she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to get away with smuggling one out for use in her dorm room.) Danny naturally followed suit, but before she could move her chair closer to Laura's, Carmilla positioned herself inbetween them, flicking her tail with haughty disdain.

Bree observed the arrangement with an unhappy look, but didn't comment. (Laura was pretty sure that would come later, though.) "As for a specific reason... Yes. As you know, Security has been working to identify the amphibian intruders," she told them. "Naturally, the identification they presented to the guard at the gate was fake, but that did mean we have their pictures. Two of them are still unidentified, but one matched the description of a man wanted by the police in Shanghai for everything from petty theft to murder, and another fit a missing persons report in a small town in rural England."

"So chances are good that the other two weren't local, either," Laura surmised. "What about the one in the lab?"

"That's where things get interesting," Bree replied, and Laura started getting the feeling that it wasn't just Carmilla that was causing her dissatisfied expression. "The Oanness Club could never manage to get it to shift into its human form, according to their notes - and I thank the Lord for scientists making sure to fully back up all their records and test results offsite."

"Oh, yeah," LaFontaine chimed in. "You never keep all your data in one place."

"In any event," Bree continued, "while we have no picture for this one, the records do list a name: John Peterson. Unlike the others, he _was_ a local."

"What's so interesting about that?" Laura asked, confused.

"The fact that town records list John Peterson as having died forty years ago."


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

 

 **Author's Note:** Oof. This is late. Like, really _**really**_ late. Sorry about that. Needed something of a mental health break, I guess. (Followed by a lingering stomach bug, because _of course_ it had to be...) Anyway, back to it... ^_^

 

* * *

 

Laura took a moment to process what she'd just been told, then asked, "So... Did they have him locked up in that lab for forty years? Or was that when he was... infected with frog monster DNA, or however they do it?"

"As I understand it, the Oannes Club captured him about a week into the term," Bree told her. "Naturally, Mother was not happy to learn that they knew all along what he was, and that there would be more, and just didn't tell anyone."

"Can't say I'm thrilled with them for that, either," Laura admitted reluctantly, not liking having to side with the Dean about _anything_. "Though, really, _she's_ hardly one to talk about keeping dangerous secrets."

Bree smiled faintly. "True, though I would hardly recommend saying as much to her. She was also unhappy to learn that the reason they were able to ambush it was that it had been stalking one of the sacrifices. Since it never resumed human form, they obviously couldn't interrogate it to learn why, but based on your own attack, given her condition and lack of any reason to be on her guard, it seems likely Miss Spielsdorf wouldn't have survived her own encounter with it."

Her eyebrows shot up. "It was after B-" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "Wait. She was the only one, at the time, wasn't she? Of _course_ it would have been her." And if it had been reported as a wild animal attack, Laura knew she likely wouldn't have thought it anything out of the ordinary, continuing blindly along until _someone_ took her to be infected with parasites, too. "Well, given what the Dean said about the Oannes Society, I guess I can see them trying to pick off any sacrifices they identified." She paused. "Are the Club members still... breathing?" If they'd ticked off the Dean, after all...

"Yes. For the time being, Mother still finds them useful, particularly in regards to countering the original Society. She's determined that no Club members have been passing any information to them, so they didn't actively betray her. I imagine she will... reassess matters, once the Society has been dealt with."

"Great." Even more people they were going to have to try and find some way to save. "Well, if they're still alive, and didn't lose their research data during the attack, is there anything they can tell us about how to deal with the frog people?"

"While they collected a great deal of scientific data, very little of it would have practical applications in a fight." Bree smiled faintly. "Ironically, _you_ had far greater success in discovering any weaknesses the creatures might have then the Oannes Club did."

That figured. "Well, you know, desperate times..." she said with a shrug.

"Indeed."

"Apparently, they were keeping him sedated in a water-filled glass tube," LaFontaine added. "He wasn't really in any danger of drying out, from what Bree's told me, but I guess that kept them from considering the effects of any sprays, capsaicin or otherwise."

"I guess I can see that." Laura sighed quietly, shaking her head. _Okay, think,_ she told herself. _Think, think, think._ The Oannes Society, judging by the admittedly small sample size they had to work with, seemed to either recruit or abduct people to be transformed into frog monsters from all over, which meant the disappearances would be spaced out enough that it would be impossible to pick out any others who'd been 'chosen' from among all the other missing people. That would have been the whole idea, she was sure, but that didn't mean she couldn't find it irritating. Perhaps the BPRD might be able to figure out some way of locating others eventually, but she didn't have that kind of time. "So. I have questions."

"You always have questions," Danny noted fondly.

"How else would I learn things?" Laura countered. "Anyway. If Mr. Peterson was changed forty years ago, does that mean he was aging normally, or slower, or just not at all? I mean, Abe was changed in the Eighteen-Sixties, but I think he was in some kind of stasis until the BPRD shocked him out of it, and the frogs are flawed attempts to recreate what happened to him. Also, are they intelligent? Can they still speak, at least in human form? Can they be reasoned with? How much of their human lives do they remember?" Because Abe didn't remember being Langdon Everett Caul in the slightest. (As much as she'd tried to respect their privacy, she hadn't quite been able to tune out the quiet, brief conversation between him and Carmilla. Even having read through the journal, there hadn't been so much as a flicker of vague familiarity.) "From what I understand, they seemed to recognize what guns were, but that could also be from post-transformation encounters before they got to Silas."

"I'm not certain," Bree admitted. "You know how reluctant Mother is to share information with people who don't absolutely _need_ to know it. I'm only allowed to tell you what she and her people have learned because she wishes to seem like she's cooperating with the investigation, and it implicates someone else. From what I understand, while the creatures' mutations are flawed, they don't seem to be unstable."

"By all rights, the human DNA _should_ be rejecting the amphibian DNA immediately," LaFontaine added. "Violently, even. Somehow, though, they're actually getting the two genomes to _merge_. They must have some kind of catalyst, but I've never even heard of anything that could do that. I think you'd need multiple samples - from multiple creatures - over a long period of time to determine whether senescence was taking place or not."

Bree took over speaking again, possibly fearing LaF might veer into increasingly technical jargon and begin losing the rest of them if she didn't. "One thing she did feel that I should know, however, was that the information the Society's most recent defection brought with them said that the creatures' mental condition deteriorated over time."

"Is that why they were able to capture Peterson so easily?" Laura guessed.

"Most likely. As you saw, he was not mindless by any means, but he also didn't recognize your pepper spray as a weapon until it was too late. Presumably, that was why the four that had been sent to retrieve him and destroy the Oannes Club's data were far more recent transformations. That defection I mentioned occurred twenty-three years ago, so one of the things they were trying to learn was whether the Society had corrected for that deterioration or not. I don't know if the Club members reached any conclusions in that regard or not, but if Agent Sapien's memory loss is due to a similar condition, the Society may never manage to do so."

"Given what they're trying to do, they probably consider that more of a feature than a bug," Laura grumbled.

"Quite."

Okay, so things weren't actually all bad. She had a fair bit more to talk about in her next video, now. The fact that it might paint the Dean in a somewhat favorable light - that she was cooperating and voluntarily sharing information with the public - was a little galling, but Laura could live with it. Those in the know weren't going to be fooled, and everyone else could be brought up to speed later. (Though she naturally wouldn't be including anything relating to the Ogdru Jahad in that. Nothing good would come from spreading _that_ kind of information around - even LaFontaine, the "Unofficial Truthspeaker" of Silas, understood that.) She'd acquired a "service animal" that could (probably) sniff out the frog monsters in their human forms if they were anywhere nearby. That Bree was being allowed to pass along information like this suggested that the Dean still trusted her, which meant she'd likely be spared any additional mental intrusions for the time being. She had no idea what was going on with Perry, but they'd passed something along to the BPRD that would hopefully shed some light on things.

As for what to do next... That, she wasn't sure about. Technically speaking, there really wasn't anything _for_ them to be doing, just then. They knew who had taken the missing girls and why, and that they would be safe for at least another eleven days. They didn't know _where_ they were, and had no real way of finding out. (Given the twenty year gap between sacrifices, that was plenty of time to stockpile food and water, so they couldn't even try tracking a supply chain.) They also had no leads on tracking down the more immediate threat, the Oannes Society, and weren't likely to, unless they tried killing her again. Given how close they'd come to succeeding in that before... Well, she wasn't sure she wanted to know _that_ badly. Everything else required waiting, mostly on the BPRD. She really didn't like the idea of just sitting around while someone else did all the work, but was honest enough with herself to admit that, right then, she'd just be in their way. There was only one thing she _was_ sure that she needed to do. "Okay, then. Guess I'd better get to work filming and uploading a new video."

"You can do that from our dorm room," Bree told her. "The maintenance people have managed to repair the door so that it can be closed and locked, to keep out any thieves. The window will take a bit longer, as the creature damaged the wall, as well, so it's still not habitable in terms of sleeping there. They also need to take care of the other, more cosmetic damage it caused. They won't resume their work until tomorrow morning, however, and they didn't change the locks, so as long as you don't mind a somewhat messy backdrop, you can film there." She paused, then added, "Also, since I can't exactly touch it, I need you to bring that box you got from Father Jakob with you. Please look through it to see if there's anything else you might want to make use of. I don't really feel comfortable leaving that unattended for days on end."

Given that it had apparently been perfectly safe until she'd removed it from the protection of the church, Laura couldn't help but feel guilty for giving Bree something else to worry about. "Of course."

"I'm surprised you didn't already have that packed up," Danny noted.

"I wouldn't really have felt comfortable just taking something so personal without permission," Laura told her. Of course, as distracted as she'd been while packing - she hadn't quite been able to keep from flashing back to her attack, and some small part of her in the back of her mind had expected it to be repeated at any moment - she also hadn't exactly remembered it, but she wasn't about to tell Danny that. "Of course, I was wearing a cross when the Dean came to talk to me, and she didn't even seem to notice." Not even when touching her. The Dean could have snapped her neck like a twig, if she'd wanted. Clearly, holy items could only do so much, where vampires were concerned. "Not to mention that, well, the vampires are ironically the ones who _don't_ want to hurt me - not yet, at least - so needlessly provoking them doesn't seem like the best idea. But I'll make sure to keep that safe, for you."

"Thank you."

"Meanwhile, I should probably be getting back to trying to figure out a way to detect the frog men for those of us who don't have large feline companions," LaF noted. "If the Oannes Club figured _that_ out, the Dean evidently decided that was one of those things that we didn't really need to know."

"She didn't tell me if they did or not, either," Bree told them. "If that helps."

"Oh!" Laura abruptly remembered that there was one other thing she wanted to ask. "Before you go, there's something I was going to talk to you about the next time I saw you. Do you think I could, like, borrow J.P.'s flash drive? Just for a little while?"

Bree stood up. "While you two sort that out, Danny and I need to talk about the security arrangements for her apartment building."

Danny stood as well, though she looked somewhat confused. "Haven't we already done that?"

"Yes," Bree acknowledged. "However, the situation has changed, since then. Mother's made it clear that if I'm not convinced that Laura will be safe there... I'm to bring her home with me."

Laura started. "Okay, look, I know what I said about the Dean not wanting to hurt me right now and all, but that doesn't mean I want to sleep in her house. Or that, you know, I even _could_ get any sleep there." To say nothing of what her imagination was conjuring up, picturing where someone like the Dean might live.

"She doesn't particularly care how you feel, Laura. Just that you don't complicate matters for her by dying when that isn't in her plans. And because I know you'll ask at some point... No, I don't know who'd potentially be replacing you as a sacrifice. I don't need to know that, after all."

"I didn't expect that you would." She wasn't acting as bait this time, after all - they hadn't discussed the times she had been, the subject obviously a _**very**_ uncomfortable one for Bree - so she didn't need to know about any of that, save for where it related to Laura, herself. (She still had no idea why Bree _had_ been assigned as her new roommate when Betty vanished, except maybe that the Dean had wanted one of her own people in position just in case - it was entirely possible that the Oannes Society might have tried to get a student loyal to them in there, to either talk her into fleeing or to take her out when her guard was down - and thanks to the incident with her own former roommate, Bree had been available.) Also, the Dean wasn't stupid: whether she thought Bree was fully under her control or not, she knew it was far too likely that her "daughter" would try to figure out some way of tipping Laura off to who her potential replacement might be, if she could. Anyone who'd been watching her videos could guess that. "Is that why you suggested I film my video in our room?" she suddenly asked. "Because you think that if you're not satisfied with what you hear and I have to go home with you, I wouldn't be able to?"

"There aren't any filters on Aethernet access there that I'm aware of, though I've never tried uploading any videos, so I can't state that with absolute surety," Bree replied. "Mother does give us our privacy, though the soundproofing in the mansion isn't quite good enough to completely compensate for vampiric hearing. She's not always there, obviously, so you _could_ probably film and upload your videos, though if she didn't like what she saw in them, she would be able to express that to you and have no one be the wiser." Laura couldn't stop a shudder at the thought of being in such a helpless position. "In terms of hardware, I'd imagine you'd want to use Will's computer setup," Bree continued, and an undefinable _something_ in her tone made Laura pay close attention to what she was saying. "He always had to have the best of whatever technology he had - newest, most expensive, that sort of thing. Mother typically indulges us with things like that, if only to prevent our dissatisfaction with being unable to leave this town from causing her problems. Naturally, she made sure to collect everything she'd bought him from his room in the Zeta House - I'd already given her his phone when I reported back after killing him - though everything else he'd had there was left untouched. I suppose the Zetas will do something with it eventually."

"Well, that's good to know. Um, I guess." Laura would still rather not have to experience that for herself, and they all knew it. Bree and Danny stepped out of the room, already discussing security arrangements before the door had even closed. Carmilla's brief, disgruntled expression made it clear that the room's soundproofing was sufficient to keep even vampiric hearing from picking up on a conversation even at more-or-less normal volume, which was good to know. Laura made a conscious decision not to listen to anything they were saying up until that point, not wanting to get upset. That Bree was being forced to make sure the apartment building's security was up to snuff was hardly Danny's fault. Nevertheless, Laura was aware that her temper was becoming increasingly short where Danny was concerned - where a lot of things were concerned, truthfully, but Danny's overprotective streak could set her off faster than anything else, and the worse the situation got, the more protective Danny became.

(She was honest enough with herself to admit that some of her attitude was her own fault. She was technically cheating on her girlfriend, however much she might like to dress it up as "exploring her options", or just try and ignore that particular aspect of the situation completely. She didn't exactly feel good about betraying Danny's trust like that - and couldn't quite explain how she could feel such intense emotions for Danny, yet be drawn so sharply to Carmilla - and that was making her a bit snappish where Danny was concerned. Danny didn't deserve that.)

Shoving all that out of her mind as best as she could for the moment, Laura turned back to LaFontaine. "So...?"

"Oh, yeah, no problem." LaF pulled a flash drive out of their pocket. Unlike the one they'd been using, however, this one was pink instead of black, and had a ring at the bottom that you turned to extend the USB connector rather than a slide on the top. "You have good timing, actually; the Computer Club just finished this. It occurred to me yesterday that with me in the lab and you out investigating, you might need to talk to J.P. when I wasn't around, so I asked them to make another one for you. From what they said, we can even use both at the same time, and J.P. assures me that he's a champion multitasker." They handed over the drive.

"Cool," Laura said, dropping it in her coat pocket. "Thank them for me the next time you see them, will you?" She wasn't quite sure where the Silas Computer Club met, aside from most likely somewhere in the Advanced Science and Tech Center (referred to by some as 'Corvae Hall', though she had no idea why), and while she could probably look that up easily enough, she had more important things to worry about.

"Way ahead of you, frosh; I already did."

"Okay." She really, _really_ wanted to ask them some questions about Perry, but she knew she needed to be careful. She trusted LaF (admittedly, she hadn't known them for very long, but those who had seemed to agree with her about that), but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Perry was involved in something shady, and she couldn't risk them giving something away the next time they saw her. "You know, we always talk about me," she said abruptly. "How are _you_ doing with all this? You're the one who keeps getting the job of figuring out all the science-related aspects of all this dumped on you, after all."

"Well, me and the BPRD," they corrected. "Even the Dean couldn't say anything bad about the rest of the organization when she was trying to discourage you from trusting Hellboy and his team. Not saying there isn't any pressure, but pushing the boundaries of the known and the possible like this is kind of why I'm majoring in biology like this in the first place. I mean, the chance to analyze cross-species DNA fusion? Dissecting mind-altering parasites and trying to figure out a way to safely neutralize them? Using science to try and discover how and why supernatural creatures like vampires work? How could I resist?"

"Heh. Yeah, I guess I get that. God knows I'd probably be investigating this story whether I was personally involved with it or not." Though she would have preferred 'not', honestly. If only to make sure she actually lived long enough to turn her report in. "Just be careful not to get so caught up in what you're doing that you lose track of what's going on around you."

LaF momentarily looked somewhat sheepish. "Yeah, I've done that before," they admitted. "As evidenced by my needing to borrow Lola's phone yesterday after I let the battery die in mine. I picked up one of the portable power banks they sell downstairs after that."

Lola, hmm? Hopefully, that they subconsciously defaulted to Perry's first name when talking about her was a sign of progress on that front, because she wasn't sure she could ask about that, either, without potentially screwing things up.

Fortunately, LaF decided it for her. Her face must have given something away while she was thinking, because they nodded slowly and remarked, "Yeah, she said that you knew."

"She did? Because I kind of got the impression she didn't want anyone to know." What had changed between then and-? _Wait a minute._ Something occurred to her. "The night we got the Codex, you were acting kind of weird..."

"Yeah, that's... We've talked about it since then. Obviously. I'm still... analyzing the data, let's say. I mean, we've been best friends since we were five. Switching from thinking of her as practically a sister to a potential love interest isn't exactly an overnight process." It was pretty clear they didn't really want to talk about it; likely, they'd only said as much as they had because Laura not only already knew how Perry felt, but had done her best to comfort and support her that one time.

That was fine, and Laura _did_ actually know when not to push about some things. "Fair enough. I know not everyone jumps into relationships at warp speed, like I do."

LaF took the offered subject change gratefully. "Speaking of, are you and Danny doing okay? I know we've joked about her protectiveness, but with everything that's going on..."

"We _would_ be doing better if my life wasn't constantly in danger, yes," Laura admitted. "I know she's _trying_ to rein it in, but based on last night - and this morning - if I caught her buying bulk shipments of bubble wrap, I would not be at all surprised." Which had been made all the worse by the way Danny just wouldn't _**listen**_ to her... Carmilla leaned against her leg, reminding Laura of her presence, and she absently reached down to stroke her silky fur. The whole 'emotional support animal' thing might have been a disguise, but Laura did feel a bit calmer.

LaF apparently took that as their cue, sliding off the table and back onto their feet. "Hang in there, Laura. We'll figure this out."

Laura stood as well, before someone ( _coughDannycough_ ) could suggest she just lock herself in the room until it was time for her next class. "Right. And believe me, I do appreciate all your hard work. I'm sure Betty and the others will, too." Should they live so long. Laura wasn't actually supposed to _know_ about the Halloween deadline, so she could hardly say anything about it to LaFontaine. Knowing how little time they and the BPRD had to pull off the miracle of killing the monster, saving the girls, _and_ finding a way to get them back to normal didn't leave her feeling overly enthusiastic about their chances, but she kept that to herself. No point in discouraging them and lowering the odds even further. "Just be sure you're carrying some pepper spray, just in case the frogs figure out what you're trying to do."

"Oh, I am. And you can thank me _after_ I actually figure out something helpful," they replied, crossing to the door and opening it.

"-think she won't notice?" Bree was saying, sounding anything but happy.

"As long as-" Noticing the open door, Danny cut herself off.

And just like that, Laura wasn't having it. "What? What do you not want me to notice?" Because of course they'd been talking about her. Who else could it have been, the Dean? No. She knew.

"It's nothing," Danny dismissed. "Just... Bree and I are going to have to head back to my place, and I may or may not have to make a couple changes - I won't know for sure until she's had a look around. As long as she likes what she sees, I won't need to make any intrusive changes... and really, short of finding somewhere with armed guards and surveillance cameras, you'll be as safe there as you will anywhere."

Laura wasn't entirely sure she bought that - if only because Bree's expression was more annoyed than anything else - it wasn't like anything Danny had said was wrong, so she didn't say anything. Bree might just have been annoyed by the situation itself (Laura didn't exactly enjoy the Dean making everything more complicated, herself), and given that she'd just been thinking about how much she didn't enjoy overprotective smothering, Danny trying to keep her from noticing she was engaging in more of the same was entirely in character. What was that old saying? 'A good compromise leaves everyone unhappy'? Something like that, anyway. "If the Dean is really so worried about my safety, she should tell the BPRD or whoever where to find the Oannes Society, so they can be taken care of," she said, keeping her temper in check with some effort. "I'm sure she knows." She likely wouldn't, though, so she could continue giving the public a bad guy to focus on that wasn't her. That she kept letting innocent lives be placed at risk just for her own sake...

"I'll pass that along," Bree told her, sounding no happier about the whole thing than Laura did herself. "But don't hold your breath waiting for her to follow your suggestion."

"Wasn't gonna."

"Meanwhile, you gonna be okay here by yourself while I'm gone?" Danny asked. "I'm not sure how long this'll take."

"Not exactly by myself," Laura replied, indicating Carmilla's panther form with a gesture.

"Yeah..." Danny said slowly, looking at the giant cat. Carmilla stared back evenly. "Even if I was sure pets were allowed in my apartment, I'm not sure that would extend to panthers. Really, taking that anywhere off campus grounds seems like something that wouldn't go over well."

"That did occur to me," Laura said, though her tone was one of agreement rather than rebuke. It was a fair point, after all. "When I mentioned that at the Student Healthcare Center, I was just told 'don't worry about it'." Which was true, as that was exactly what Carmilla had told her. "I mean, knowing this school, she could just poof in or out whenever she feels like it." She paused. "Which could also apply to cats in general, now that I think about it. Anyway, I've only been attacked on campus so far, so that's my main concern. I'll be back in my dorm room by... what, Wednesday?" she asked Bree.

"Most likely," she confirmed. "Thursday at the latest."

"So I'll only have to worry about potentially being giant black cat-less for two or three nights," Laura continued.

"Okay." Danny still didn't look terribly happy. "You sure you're gonna be okay here while I'm gone? I'll _try_ not to take too long, but..."

"Oh, don't do _this_ again," Laura warned quietly.

"I can put the word out to the other Summers to keep an eye out for you, and watch out for any trouble."

Again. _Again_ , she wasn't listening. "I'll be _fine_ , Danny," she snapped, the frustration in her voice giving way to genuine anger.

"I'm sure they wouldn't mind-"

Raw, seething anger surged up from nowhere to club her upside the head, utterly blindsiding her. " _ **I can take care of myself! Who the HELL do you think you are-?!**_ "

"Laura! _Laura!_ " Someone was suddenly right there in front of her - no, not someone, Bree. Bree was suddenly just there, gripping her shoulders, though whether to restrain her or try shaking some sense back into her, Laura didn't know. It could even have been both. That she'd been so angry that she'd momentarily _forgotten who Bree was_... That scared her. "Hey, look at me, okay? Just focus on me, right now. Slow, deep breaths... That's right... Good, just like that."

"What the heck was _that_?" LaFontaine, who'd never quite made it out the door, was standing right up against the wall, watching her with wide eyes.

"I... I don't know..." Laura said, feeling bereft. Also shaky, as she had a body full of adrenaline that had no outlet. She had to lean against the table to keep her balance. "I'm sorry, Danny," she told her now openly concerned girlfriend. "I don't have the _slightest_ idea where _that_ came from." She'd been getting angry, yes, but not _that_ angry.

"Given all the emotional strain you're under, it was really only a matter of time before you exploded at something." Danny shook her head. "I'm just glad it was me, and not, like, the Dean, or something."

Laura was pretty sure they all had to bury a shudder at _that_ possibility.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Danny continued, slowly moving closer until she got within a meter or so. That seemed to be as close as Bree wanted _any_ of them to Laura just then, even Carmilla. "I don't want to make you mad - well, again - but they do offer yoga classes over at the Rec Center. It's not really my thing, but it might just do you some good."

"I'll think about that," Laura promised. She would, too. She wasn't convinced she'd survive long enough to make it to her first lesson, but who knew? She'd never practiced yoga before, but she did know at least a little about it, and it might actually help calm and center her. It certainly couldn't hurt. And if it kept her from blowing up at people who really didn't deserve it again?

It would absolutely be worth it.


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer:** _Carmilla_ the web series was created by Jordan Hall and Ellen Simpson, and is based on the novella _Carmilla_ by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu. _Hellboy_ was created by Mike Mignola. This odd little blending of the two, however, was created by me. Here's hoping it works...

**Author's Note:** Honestly, I'm just appalled at myself for letting so long go by without updating ANY of my stories. Hope I still have people reading them after so much time. Also, spent several days with a lack of internet at home, which seriously complicated accomplishing any research I needed to do. Because I really needed that, right? *sigh*

 

* * *

 

 

It had taken Liz a fair amount of time and effort to make sure nobody had followed her to Team B's rented house. As far as anyone knew, neither the Dean nor the Oannes Society knew they were there, and they wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. Liz knew that, understood how important it was to hang onto whatever advantages they might have, so she hadn't hesitated to carry out all the twists and turns and short cuts and doubling back... Honestly, by the end of it all, _she'd_ barely known where she was, so she felt confident she'd lost any potential tails.

Still, though, playing delivery girl meant that her team was heading into action without her, so whatever was in that safe had better be _damned_ important.

It wasn't that she thought the guys were helpless without her. Far from it. (Really, there were times she believed they were better off without her there to risk losing control and killing everyone.) Indeed, Hellboy and Abe had gone on plenty of missions without her, even running solo sometimes. If necessary, Carmilla would most likely be close enough to act as emergency backup. But at a place like Silas, Liz just felt better when she could _see_ that her friends were safe and sound.

And she _had_ been helpful in combat. As much as she hated having to risk using her fire so close to Abe, he might well have been seriously injured - or even died - if she hadn't. If she could just hang onto thoughts like that, while making sure not to grow careless, she should be alright.

Easier said than done, that.

"Special delivery!" she announced as she walked inside the house, making sure to close - and lock - the door behind her. "That'll be fourteen ninety-five, plus tip. Also, I'm afraid we were out of garlic bread."

"You've been spending a little too much time around Carmilla, lately, haven't you?" Kate asked wryly from where she was standing in the doorway that lead from the living room to the dining room.

"I have no idea what you mean."

"Of course not." She wasn't moving any closer, which made sense. Leach was no doubt in the dining room with Sarah Jane and the techs, and once Liz set the booksafe down on the table, she retreated a safe distance to stand in the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. Only Thorne, who promptly sat down on the couch to examine the safe, would be in the room. If he accidentally set off the explosives... Well, even if she'd been there, not even Carmilla would have been able to pull him to safety in time, so more of them placing themselves at risk for absolutely no reason would have been pointless and foolish. None of them _liked_ having to think like that, but that wouldn't make it any less true. Liz didn't really know much about how psychic powers worked - her own pyrokinesis notwithstanding, given that it technically fell under that umbrella, as well - but not having several people in his immediate vicinity while he was trying to work might even help. Less impressions to have to filter through, or whatever? Maybe. She could ask later, she supposed.

Presuming he didn't blow himself up in the meantime.

Kate seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Are you _sure_ you don't want the bomb suit, Russell?" she asked, evidently not for the first time.

Thorne shook his head. "It doesn't fit me well enough, and it's far too bulky for such delicate work." They were at least practical reasons, with no mention of the suit 'blocking the flow of his aura', or any such thing. (Liz had never personally worked with Thorne before this mission - she and Abe hadn't quite managed to make it to Japan during that whole mess with the Sword of Storms - but she and her team had worked with other psychics in the past. Hellboy's poor opinion of them hadn't come from nowhere, after all.) Having said that, Thorne turned his attention to the safe, focusing on it with intense concentration. Liz had nothing to do but watch him and wait.

And wait.

And wait.

She knew better than to rush someone playing around with high explosives, but she was about twenty or thirty seconds away from letting out a sigh of impatience when he finally began moving again, reaching out and slowly keying in a combination. After twenty quiet beeps, he hit the 'Enter' button, eliciting a louder beep, and a distinct click. Thorne sighed in relief - Liz knew exactly how he felt - and leaned back against the couch cushions.

"You okay, Russell?" Kate asked as she walked over to stand near him. "Seemed like that was taking a while." So she hadn't been imagining things, Liz thought as she also wandered over, sitting down on the couch and pulling the now unlocked safe over toward her.

"Quite well, thank you. And the young man Carmilla took that from hadn't been in possession of it for very long," he explained, waving a hand toward the safe. "Whoever gave it to him hadn't been terribly attached to it, either, so while the combination was there, it was very, very faint."

"Well, now that you've got it open, let's see what all this fuss was about," Liz decided, carefully pulling the top cover up. Thorne would have warned her if he'd sensed any other dangers, but in a place that had things like books with writing that couldn't be seen by cameras - there had even been some speculation that the text wasn't even there, but the book was making them _think_ it was to try and get the information across to them; Laura being able to read it while wearing the Charm of Maugris didn't _quite_ agree with that theory - a trap that couldn't be sensed by a psychic wasn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. Especially when that psychic had been so focused on reading the combination.

She needn't have worried. The safe opened smoothly and without incident. Inside it was...

It was...

She frowned in confusion. What _was_ that? She reached in and carefully picked up the sole object within: a clear plastic rectangular specimen container with... _something_... inside it. It looked more or less like some kind of cuttlefish had been crossbred with sea lice, with just a dash of sea urchin thrown in for good measure. It was a greyish-green in color, with a wavy pattern of pale, nearly white lines on one side that she took to be the top. There must have been some kind of clear liquid in there, as the container was a bit heavier than she thought it would be if it were otherwise empty, and the _whatever_ wasn't decomposing at all. "O...kay, anybody know what _this_ is?" she asked, holding it up so the others could get a look.

Naturally, Kate was fascinated by it. "I've never seen _anything_ like this before," she remarked, reaching out to take it from Liz, who was only too happy to be rid of it. Damn thing looked creepy as hell, as far as she was concerned. "It looks like some kind of marine organism, maybe some type of undersea cryptid. Why an _arts journalist_ for the school paper would have something like this..."

A fair point, Liz privately agreed. If anyone at Silas was likely to have an some kind of unknown creature in a container under their bed, she would have expected it to be LaFontaine or their fellow bio majors. "I doubt his official job had anything to do with it," she replied. "Carmilla was searching his room because he was connected to some shady people, after all." She shrugged. "This sort of spy stuff isn't really my thing, but..."

"True enough." That had clearly been in reference to her first point. "I wonder if he even knew what was in the safe." Kate tilted it one way, then the other, studying the creature. "An entirely new life form... Even at a school like Silas, even if he is an arts journalist, I find it hard to believe he'd keep quiet about it. Something like that could make his career."

"It isn't new." Thorne had been reaching out to touch the container, only to sharply recoil from it. "It's... old. _**So**_ old. Old as the ocean's depths."

Liz started, looking first at him, then at the creature, then at Kate, who was looking excitedly back at her. "It's connected to Lophiiformes in some way..." Kate said quietly, clearly thinking out loud. "That makes sense, given what we know both about the school and the people Tookerman is involved with. But what... oh... oh, _of course!_ " Her eyes lit up in realization. "If Lophiiformes is some kind of aquatic creature, even if it doesn't necessarily require water, it would stand to reason that it might have the same kind of parasitic and symbiotic creatures attached to it that regular sea life does. _That's_ where the parasites that the vampires infect the sacrifices with come from!" She looked down at the container. "Which means there may still be living parasites in here. If there are, not only do we have them, but also the thing that made them, which means we have an even better chance to find out what they do and don't like, and if there's any way of killing them without killing the host."

"Aren't we trying to do that already?" Liz had to ask.

"Yes, but the ones we have to work with are mixed in with Sarah Jane's blood, which complicates things. It's hard to say with only one source to draw from, but it seems like they adapt themselves to their host organism, likely to prevent any kind of immune response. We also don't have the most sensitive or powerful equipment here."

"What, you wanna take it back to Silas?" Liz couldn't help but be skeptical of that plan. "I mean, yeah, I'm sure LaFontaine would be _thrilled_ to help analyze this, but I don't think we want Dean Morgan involved in any of this."

"That's true." Kate met her eyes, and Liz just _knew_ she wasn't going to like what she heard next. "There's a researcher that I know at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna that can help us. I'm going to need you to take a little drive."

Yep, she _definitely_ didn't like hearing that. "I am not driving to _Vienna_!" she objected stridently.

"Of course not. We can't spare you for _that_ long. I'll arrange for a courier to rendezvous with you some distance outside of town to pick it up, but we need to try and keep the Dean - and the Oannes Society - from noticing."

That did make sense, and since they couldn't afford to risk someone making off with it, sending a field agent with her training and (for lack of a better term) firepower along for the transfer was also probably a good idea. "Great." She turned to Thorne. "Guess that means you're coming with me, to make sure the courier can be trusted."

"I'm a psychic, not a mind reader," he pointed out, which wasn't _quite_ a refusal... technically.

She wasn't in the mood for technicalities. "You're what we've got to work with. You should at least be able to see if it makes it to the lab or not, right?"

"I'll certainly _try_ , but-"

"Good," she interrupted, turning back to Kate. "Let H.B. and Abe know I'm gonna be a bit later than I thought getting back to Silas?" The two had orders to check in after their hunt, as they had their comms muted to prevent any distractions at just the wrong moment. That they hadn't done so yet just meant they were still tracking the thing down... but she still worried, if only just a little.

"Of course," Kate promised her. It had really gone without saying that she would have done that, but they both knew that Liz had needed to say it anyway. The guys would be fine, Liz told herself. And Carmilla...?

Well, hopefully she'd be able to stay out of trouble while off on her own with Laura. Although, given that Carmilla _liked_ trouble (at least some of the time), and Laura seemed to be a magnet for it...

It was entirely possible she'd be speeding on the way to and from meeting the courier.

 

* * *

 

 

As usual, the shortest part of recording her newest video update had been the actual filming.

Everything in close proximity to the window was covered by a blue plastic tarp, and a single red toolbox had been left behind, sitting on the floor near Bree's bed. (Naturally, Carmilla had wasted no time in searching through it once she'd resumed her human form. She seemed almost disappointed to find nothing in it but tools.)

While she waited for her computer to boot up, Laura sat at her desk and jotted down a few things on a convenient piece of paper, both to figure out what order she wanted to present everything in, and to make sure she didn't forget anything. Once she had that figured out, she waited until Carmilla had moved to a position off-camera, then began filming. They didn't know if the Dean was personally watching her videos or not, but Carmilla didn't want to take a chance that she'd recognize her panther form, so Laura would be only vaguely mentioning that she'd gotten an "appropriate" service animal when she got to that part of her update, letting anyone who saw her in person fill in the blanks. It was still entirely possible that word would get back to the Dean about it, but there was really no getting around that, and Carmilla made it clear that after seventy years, she was pretty sick of hiding. Laura supposed she could understand that. And if the secret would be out soon... Well, Carmilla wanted to see her "Mother's" face when she realized the truth.

That was something Laura _also_ agreed with, even if she'd personally rather watch a video recording of it... from several miles away.

Once she was sure she'd gotten everything recorded that she'd meant to came the editing process. Ordinarily, that didn't take very long on the videos where she didn't add any effects or transitions, but this time she needed to be sure she hadn't said anything she shouldn't have. Not only did she need to be careful not to mention anything from the Dean's expository monologue, but she also needed to make sure she wasn't going to get Bree in trouble, or risk the Dean figuring out just how tenuous her control of the blonde really was, just then. Once she was sure - and Carmilla agreed - that she'd managed to avoid slipping up on that front came the somewhat lengthy process of rendering. The video was a little under eight minutes long, and since there was only the one file (having to simultaneously render video, pictures, effects-laden footage and audio - most or all of which would be in different file formats - tended to lengthen the process considerably), experience told her it would take between twenty and thirty minutes. After that came uploading, though that wasn't as bad as it would be if she was uploading directly to YouTube. (She'd considered doing so more than once since this whole thing had begun, if only to backup her videos, but had concluded that would be a little _too_ public for the Dean to ignore. She was even more sure of that now.)

"And... okay! That's that." She had it set to automatically upload once it was finished rendering, and had set the timer to shut the computer down in an hour. "Video's taken care of. Now what?" Grabbing the box with Bree's stuff in it and putting it in her backpack would only take a few seconds, after all.

"Well, we _do_ finally have some privacy and a conveniently placed bed," Carmilla noted playfully. At Laura's sharp glare, she added, "What? It would do wonders for that headache you've got."

Laura sighed. She supposed she should have expected someone as skilled in reading body language as Carmilla to pick up on that. Ever since her explosion back in the Student Union, a dull throbbing had been developing in her skull. "I'm really not in the mood right now," she said, somewhat apologetic. Only somewhat because, after seeing and talking to Danny, she'd been feeling confused and conflicted about the whole thing... which probably wasn't helping her headache, now that she thought of it. "Between a lousy night's sleep, not eating or drinking anything except a few sips of water since breakfast - and that wasn't even a big breakfast, since that whole thing with the Dean had kind of killed my appetite - and getting so angry like that..."

"Well, I did say I wanted to take you out to lunch," Carmilla reminded her. For all her earlier flirtations, she _was_ keeping her distance, presumably having guessed what Laura's response would be. "I think we can take care of the dehydration problem now, though." She walked past Laura and over to the minifridge, opening it and bending down to take a look inside. (And even if she wasn't in the mood to take Carmilla up on her offer right then, she still took a moment to admire her ass while she did so. Her head may be hurting, but she wasn't _dead_.) "...huh." Carmilla stood up with a bottle of juice in her hand, mildly frowning as she considered the fridge's contents. "Bree's blood bottles are gone."

"I suppose there wouldn't be much point in leaving them here if we weren't going to be around for days," Laura said with a shrug, not seeing what the big deal was. "How long does refrigerated blood last?"

"About forty-two days, generally speaking. And the point is, they _were_ here this morning." She closed the fridge, then handed Laura the juice, a 0.75 litre PET bottle of mango flavored Pago. "Though I'll admit, seeing that you actually have juice in your fridge was also a surprise."

"I first met you in person on the day I bought it." She twisted off the lid and gulped down a couple mouthfuls of juice... then several more. She hadn't realized how thirsty she'd been. _And here I was telling_ _ **LaF**_ _not to get too caught up in what they were doing that they lost track of things?_ she thought ruefully. "So Bree's been back to the room since then. And probably not to see if I'd be able to film here." She recapped her juice and set it on the desk - it was about half empty by the time she drank enough to satisfy her thirst for the time being - and got up to retrieve Bree's box of holy items from under her bed. Holding onto that was one way to get Carmilla to keep her distance, she reflected with vague amusement as she sat down on the bed with the box on her lap. She just didn't typically _want_ that. She opened the box, then paused.

She hadn't exactly taken a careful inventory of the box's contents, but while nothing seemed to be missing, it was easy to tell that something was there that hadn't been before: a sleek-looking black smartphone. "What are you playing at, Bree?" she murmured as she closed the box and set it aside, then stood up. The back of the phone said that it was a Sony Xperia, which was not a model that she was familiar with.

"Not her phone, I take it?" Carmilla asked.

"No." Bree _did_ have a smartphone, but aside from taking calls from the Dean and checking Twitter, Laura had never seen her doing much of anything with it. She thought it was an older model iPhone, but had never asked to find out for sure. "For that matter, how did she even get it in that box? The entire thing is blessed, in addition to everything in it."

"Very, very carefully, I would imagine." At Laura's annoyed look, Carmilla shrugged, smiling faintly. "As long as she didn't touch the box itself, she'd be fine."

"I guess..." Laura turned the phone over, studying it until she found what looked like a power button, and pressed it. Nothing happened. Frowning, she held it down longer. That got her what looked like a very faint outline of a battery on the screen, with maybe a sliver of red at the bottom. Even that went away quickly, and repeated efforts couldn't bring it back. "I, um, I think it's dead."

"That's helpful."

"Bree must have left it there for a reason," Laura maintained loyally. "She made a point of telling me to look inside the box, so she obviously wanted me to find it. It's got to be important, somehow."

Carmilla didn't argue, instead simply saying, "Guess you'd better charge it back up, then."

"Yeah..." Unfortunately, she wasn't quite sure how to do that. She walked back over to her computer and sat down, turned on the camera (though she didn't start recording), then plugged in J.P.'s flashdrive. Once his interface had popped up, she showed him the phone. "Hey, J.P., can you find me an instruction manual on this, or something? The back says it's a Sony Xperia." She turned it sideways, showing him something she couldn't quite identify: a small oval with another, even smaller oval inside it that had two slightly raised, tiny metal circles. "With my luck, whatever _this_ is will probably be involved in charging it."

"Hmm..." Oddly, she'd kind of missed hearing his synthesized voice. "Running Google Image Search now." There was a short pause, then a window popped up in her web browser that showed what certainly looked like the same phone, though that one was white. "It looks like a Sony Xperia Z3. And yes, I'm afraid that is where the magnetic charging cable is attached."

"Which I don't have, and, since everyone knows what my phone looks like, can't buy without raising a _lot_ of questions I won't wanna answer," Laura groused.

"Unfortunately, yes. It can also be charged via the micro USB port, however," he told her.

"Which I also don't have," she replied, sighing. She held up a cable that ended in what looked vaguely like a smaller, much flatter USB connector. "This is what my phone charges with, my iPod's old enough to have the regular cable, Betty's phone - which I presume is either in the Dean's house or wherever Betty herself is - uses a lightning cable... I mean, I _guess_ I could look for a micro USB cable and just hope nobody asks me what I need it for, but..."

"Well, how else are you going to charge it?" Carmilla interjected. "It's not like you can just go around asking to borrow a charging cable. If Bree of all people is being so discreet in giving you this, you _absolutely_ should not let on that you have it."

Laura snorted humorlessly. "Yeah, I kinda figured."

Carmilla's question hadn't been directed at him - if anything, it had been rhetorical - but J.P. nevertheless answered, "It can be charged wirelessly, if you have the appropriate device."

"Nice," Laura commented, eyeing the phone appreciatively. Even Apple products couldn't do that, as far as she knew. "This thing must be expensive as all heck."

"True. Though, it did only come out in September, so that's hardly a surprise."

"Yeah, I g-" She froze, flashing back to Bree's mentioning how Will always had to have the newest and best toys. And the tone she'd used... Seemingly casual enough, but with an intensity bubbling below the surface that you'd have to know her well enough - and be paying close enough attention - to pick up on, combined with flickers of what might have been pleasure in her eyes. As if Laura's question about being able to record any videos had given her an opening she wouldn't otherwise have had. "Didn't Bree say that she gave Will's phone to the Dean?"

"She said that she gave Mother back the phone that _she'd_ bought him," Carmilla corrected, looking at the Xperia with new interest. "Which would suggest, if that _is_ his, that he got it somewhere else, and was hiding that from her." She paused. "And if Mother didn't know to ask for it, he couldn't have been keeping anything connected to it at her house. So if that's his, any peripherals would likely be in his room in the Zeta House."

"That'd be one way to confirm it, alright, but how are we gonna sneak in there? I doubt it says anywhere in his school file which room is his, and we can hardly just check them one at a time. Honestly, I'm not sure we'd even be able to sneak in unnoticed."

"Well, we'd better figure something out, before the Zetas start packing it up - or just dividing it up amongst the other 'bros'," Carmilla told her.

Laura wasn't sure that she believed they'd do _that_ , but couldn't honestly say for certain that they wouldn't, either. Will was dead, and, with him having been a Zeta, they had a definite claim to whatever he'd left behind. "Can't ask anybody which room was his," she murmured, drumming her fingers on the desk as she thought. It wasn't like she could hope to just stumble across some of the Zetas having just the right conversation for her to overhear, either. That didn't seem to happen in real life. Besides, most people tended to have their conversations online, these days, which... Wait... "I wonder..." She pulled up Twitter on her computer, doing a little searching until she found the Zeta Omega Mu account, then from there identifying individual Zetas. There was a post mentioning Will's death, but none of the replies said anything about his room. (They did mention Bree, and interestingly seemed to side with her, given what Will had been trying to do when she'd saved Sarah Jane. As nice as it was to see they weren't all totally brainless, Laura refused to allow herself to be distracted.)

Will's own account seemed promising, but she didn't want to be sitting there all day reading tweets and replies. (If nothing else, she _was_ still hungry.) "J.P., can you scan through this really fast? See if he even ever mentioned which floor he was on?"

"Certainly." She drank a little bit more of her juice while she was waiting. Carmilla was standing behind her, with one hand resting on her back, gently rubbing it. It felt too nice to ask her to stop, and really, the only thing that even _could_ be considered disconcerting about that was how natural it all felt. For a fleeting moment, she idly wondered if, had she been with Carmilla first, Danny would have been able to affect her in such a way. She supposed she'd never know. A beep from her computer brought her back to the situation at hand. "There are a few tweets near the beginning of the year where he mentions being on the third floor this year - evidently, that's indicative of status, somehow - and brags about having a corner room that he could see the girls' dorms from."

"Because that's not creepy, or anything," Laura muttered, shaking her head. "Good work, J.P. I take it there's another one of those basement entrances there? With Will living there, I'd imagine this one was frequently used, too."

"There is, but while perusing Will's Twitter feed, I found that Zeta Omega Mu instituted surprisingly stringent security measures to prevent anyone from the Summer Society from sneaking in for nefarious purposes. Even with the current truce, nothing I've seen indicates they've reduced that in any way."

"Oh, goddammit..." They _needed_ to search Will's room, she just knew it.

"There may be another way, however," he continued. At Laura's quizzical look, he elaborated, "I do have access to the complete floor plans for that building, and the 'tesseract' nature of the Library will allow it to bridge two points in space."

Laura blinked, took that in, then announced, "Seriously... _**Coolest**_ thing at Silas."


End file.
